PPGD: The Second War
by Birdofterror
Summary: (Story 4 in the Chronometal Universe) "I loved her, so I had to hurt her, to make her run away, or this world would be destroyed." - Dexter, facing down an old acquaintance amidst the end of the world. The Second War, the fabled story, the song that ends the world. Championing Blossom, Dexter, and the Rowdyruff Boys, this story takes place from 3 angles; the world will never heal.
1. Prologue: Twin Worlds

**Credit Note:** _The use of the world and Megaville, Bell, and X are credited to Bleedman. The use of Barasia/Lynn is credited to Griddles. The use of Mekel is credited to Eclipse 02. The use of the Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Lab, and most other cartoon characters are credited to Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon's writers, animators, and staff members._

* * *

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Prologue: Twin Worlds

 **(===Somewhere in Nevada...===)**

The barren land around them is beaten and destroyed... but not by war or drought, instead by constant training and harsh drills. They have been training for so long... they themselves are beginning to question why.

They have never been sent out on a mission. They have never achieved the goal they hoped to accomplish when attaining this position. Instead all they do is train... and wait... and train... and wait.

Until one day...

"Men, listen up. Today we are forgoing the usual drills." The leader- Brisbaine lets out to the group of people in the room. They rise to attention. There are dozens of young people here, but three stand out as exemplary students.

"We have our first real assignment. We are moving out to Megaville and establishing recon for a few weeks." Everyone nods in agreement and prepares for the journey... except one of them.

"RECON?! We haven't been training for over seven God damned years to do RECON!" – "Butch, really... calm down." – "NO! I'm going crazy over here!" He yells with a mouth full of teeth that all look like fangs- "I've been cooped up for too long- AND NOW you're telling us to go LOOK at stuff?!"

Brisbaine excuses everyone in the room except Butch and two other individuals.

"NOW WHAT?! Are you going to try to console me?!" – "Butch. Calm down." – "AGAIN WITH THIS CRAP-" He tries to say before the young man to his right taps him on the shoulder. Butch looks back to see he's pointing at something. Butch looks over to where he's pointing and his eyes go wide. It seems to be a hologram of three girls.

"No way..." – "Yes way, now please... calm down, Butch." – "F-Fine, okay... but... that hologram... does it mean what we think it means?" – "Perhaps. Now just be quiet about this for a few hours and let me inform the rest of the men of their jobs. Your jobs, as you may imagine; are slightly different from theirs. Don't spread word of this to anyone, you three."

They all nod and head to their quarters.

 **(===Meanwhile in Megaville several hours after what has come to be called 'The crash'===)**

A young man sits on a nearby bench. He is very out of place, his large suit of golden armor sticking out like a sore thumb. A girl comes walking by... this is the third time this hour she has done so.

"Dexter... please talk to me..."

She waits for an answer for over a full minute before sighing and trying again.

"Dexter, come on... what's the matter? Did something happen when we walked away?"

Silence, yet again...

The girl sighs and walks away again, the futility of her efforts apparent.

'Why aren't you talking to her, Dexter...?' – "Didn't you hear Mandark?" – 'Yes... but... I don't know...' – "Neither do I. Until I can come up with a better idea, I think it's better for everyone if Blossom and I simply don't talk to each other anymore..." – 'You believe what Mandark said? About the end of the world and how Blossom is involved?'

Dexter still sits on the bench in the ruined city, making no real eye contact with anyone passing by.

"I don't know. Part of me still hates and distrusts Mandark... but another part of me feels like... what he was saying was the truth. The real truth." – 'So what if he's right? What does that mean for Blossom- or you even? Are you simply going to cut the relationship off?' – "If only it were that simple... Mandark said I have to make her hate me... I have to get her away from these wars..."

He looks into the sky, Bubbles and Buttercup flying off somewhere pretty fast. It looks like they left the city...

He still sits on the bench, but this time someone calls out to him. It's a woman, an unfamiliar one.

"Excuse me... are you Dexter?" He raises his head up to meet her. She seems to be in a hurry. "Yeah, I'm Dexter." – "Oh, good... can you help me?" Dexter rises from the bench and approaches her. "With what?" – "We are trying to get names right now... last names of children from all around the city." Dexter realizes without further explanation what this is for... it's to see how many children were orphaned...

 **(===Meanwhile, Back at the Nevada Base...===)**

Butch throws a rubber ball at the wall and it bounces back at him. He does this over and over again. He looks over to his brother. Blonde hair and blue accents on his otherwise black uniform.

"Boomer... you know what this means? I think you will get to see your little 'girlfriend' pretty soon, haha..." – "Real funny..." – "But seriously. If push comes to shove, I want you on our side- okay? No fratricide." – "Don't worry about it... I think I got all that mushy stuff out of my system a couple of years ago." – "Bah... 'Don't worry about it' he says..." The ball still being juggled off the wall.

The door to their quarters open and the other brother walks in with a file in hand, tossing it near Butch- Butch quickly grabbing the ball and placing it on the bed before breaking into it. Boomer looks over his shoulder as the two read. The other brother, Red hair with Red highlights sits on his bed and tilts his hat down over his eyes.

"Wait... are you telling me this is STILL a recon mission?!" – "Unless we can come up with information supporting this theory... yes..." – "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! The ONE chance we get to take those bitches down within the confines of the law- and we might not even get a chance to do it! Unbelievable!" The red one looks over, his hat still covering one of his eyes.

"I have a feeling they did what Brisbaine suspects..." He says before turning back to relax on the bed. "How, Brick... HOW?! These goody two shoes, directly causing massive genocide?! Nope. We're done. We're never doing it. It's over. It's fucking over." Butch spits, flipping the file onto his bed before leaving the room in a huff, leaving Boomer and Brick.

Boomer opens the file again to read it in quiet as Brick gets in a well needed nap. Boomer constantly flips back and forth, absorbing whatever information is here.

"Do you really think they did this, Brick?" Brick turns over and raises his hat to show both of his eyes. "They've never so much as stolen candy... well, directly anyway. They are model heroes. Yet here is a giant city-wide genocide and they seem to be the prime suspects. It seems too crazy to be a fake." He says before turning back around.

"Besides... that's why it's recon first. If it turns out that they did do this- we have full authorization to do what we see fit..." – "What we see fit..."

 **(===Back at Megaville, several more hours have passed- the sun is going down...===)**

Blossom sips quietly from a cup in the dining room. She is all alone. "Bubbles and Buttercup are going to be gone for a while... I guess... I have the whole house to myself. The Professor is off doing some 'government' thing..." She says to herself, sipping from the cup again.

It occurs to her that she has never had time to herself in years... and here it is. Nothing but time. But she can't find anything to do with it...

She sips from the cup again, before realizing it's been empty for several minutes.

"Forget this, I have to be out there and help however I can!" She yells, flying out of the house. She flies up to people cleaning up rubble. "Need any help?" She asks as she scoops up as much as she can and dumping it in the correct zones. She does this several times and gets a good 'thank you' before flying off again.

She looks over the city from the sky... it's completely ruined. The molten mountains that sprang up from the sheer force of Megaville being dropped from the sky have cooled off and now seem to be a permanent part of the city.

She sees Dexter walking around with a bunch of kids and a woman from overhead. She lands down near them. The woman speaks up once she notices Blossom:

"Oh, Blossom! We could use your help." Blossom looks over to Dexter, who doesn't make eye contact. "How can I help?" – "We are trying to find out the names of kids and trying to... um... match up with the... survivor's list for parents..." – "Oh... well I know Lynn is holed up with a bunch of survivors near the center of Megaville. Let me go check them out. I'll come back with them- and some names." – "Thank you..."

Blossom flies off, Dexter still not making eye contact. "Why is he acting so weird...?" She scouts out for the building she remembers Lynn being in before. They all went back there after they visited the Tomb of the Chronometal War until they made SURE it was safe.

She lands near the building and a little girl is outside it. She has red hair and big eyes. "Are yew Blossom...?" – "Huh? Oh, Blossom... yes, I'm Blossom." – "Lynn told me to give yew this." She says as she hands over a dark letter.

Blossom opens and reads it.

"Dear Blossom, Bubbles and/or Buttercup. I realized with the end of this entire chaotic episode, that it's time for me to take my leave. I'm sorry for leaving on such short notice, but them's the breaks. Sorry.

Your friend for a few days;  
Lynn."

"What kind of Goodbye letter is this?" Blossom says, almost laughing.

 **(===Outside the Nevada Base...===)**

All of the men are gathered outside, the moon now sufficiently high in the sky.

"You have your orders..." Brisbaine states as everyone marches off, except the three brothers. The men all head in the same direction: Megaville's direction.

"Yes, boys?" – "There was something I wanted to ask..." Brick says; file in hand. "Yes?" – "The rogue agent, Micheal- and how he got involved in this event... do we know anything?"

Brisbaine puts his finger to his chin, not so much thinking about the answer... but thinking about the way to say it.

"We had a small group of three members scouting out Micheal- and to a lesser extend the three individuals he was working with for a couple of days. In those few days, we learned everything we needed. He was deranged and it eluded us all."

He looks up to the stars. "He rushed the construction of a space satellite... 'The Hangar.' However, even to this day we don't know exactly why he did that." Brisbaine looks back down and takes the file from Brick.

"It's highly classified... but what we suspect the Powerpuff Girls of doing is directly linked with Micheal... and that girl... The Black Mother..." He looks away.

"You have your orders... enjoy..." They all fly off at the same time.

In mid-air, Boomer speaks up-

"What was all that about? How is Micheal important to this?" – "If we are going to learn how it's even Possible for the Powerpuff Girls to be involved in this, we need to learn about Micheal and the rest of the Knights. Elly, Drax and Olga. To our knowledge, Olga was the only one left alive. Before we confront the Powerpuff Girls- we need to confront her. Perhaps she can give us the information we need."

Butch growls. "Why can't we just kill them?" – "Because they are HEROES, Butch. The only way we can get jurisdiction to unleash on them is if we can get evidence Brisbaine approves is proof that they knowingly put thousands of lives in jeopardy- and had them killed."

Brick looks forward, flying fast towards Megaville.

"Taking them out 'and' being praised for it...? It's like having our cake and eating it too..."

 **(=== Back at the building Lynn left the survivors in... ===)**

"Okay, that's the last name. Come on, guys. We have to go somewhere." Blossom says, herding the kids out of the building and walking down the road to meet up with Dexter and the woman from the orphanage.

"Thank you, Blossom. This will really help." – "No problem, here's the list of names." She hands the paper over and walks away. She tries to make eye contact with Dexter again, to no avail. She flies off, noticing that even though it's nearly midnight, the people here are working tirelessly to repair this city.

She flies home, tired and bored.

Dexter meanwhile is just about done here himself. "Where is the orphanage?" – "The south side of the city. We had it repaired with fresh water and a backup generator really fast. We would love for you to come visit sometimes... if you have the time." – "Hah, thanks. Maybe I will. Take care."

Dexter walks off into the star lit night, still unsure about how to handle everything.

"I have to make her hate me... but how do I do that?" – 'Do you really have to make her hate you? Maybe you can be more subtle about it... Dexter. You are a good person. You don't have to do this.' – "Don't I?" He says sadly, aware of the decisions he is going to have to make.

"I need to get my mind off of this. I'm going to see the professor. I think he's still in my lab."

 **(===Outside Megaville...===)**

The Rowdyruffs float outside the city, high tech goggles in hand and ready. They look around the city while covert members commune with the citizens. Before long they receive a status update... Brick checks it.

-The group consisted of four members... The Powerpuff Girls and someone called Dexter.-  
-The Black Mother, under the guise of 'Lynn' has apparently left the city.-

"So we need to find this Dexter person and keep an eye on him." Brick tells everyone. The status update came with a picture of him- the armor sticks out like a sore thumb...

After a short while of searching, Boomer spots him- "There, is that him?" They all look to where he is pointing and wear their goggles. It is indeed Dexter... he's walking towards Megaville Elementary.

"Isn't he a little old for elementary school?" – "Let's follow him. Go in quiet." They fly down and maintain a low profile. They change out of their uniforms and into something a little more casual. Brick wearing a red jacket and jeans- paired with his usual hat, Boomer wearing a light blue tee and shorts and Butch sporting a blazer. Yeah... a blazer.

They walk into the school and try their best to avoid suspicion, so they walk away from each other and try not to look like a group. Dexter walks into the library and down an open hole in the wall into a kind of metropolis.

They walk in quietly...

When down, they notice him talking with a Professor of some kind and they take hidden positions and keep an ear on him.

"Professor, have you thought about that thing we talked about?" – "Yes... and I'm not so sure." – "Well, Model M grows off of the negative emotions of the people of Earth... what if it gets out of hand? If it spirals out of control and destroys everything?" – "But... to do what you suggested-" He tries to say before his phone rings. "Hold on a second..."

He answers his phone. "Hello? ... ... Oh, hello Buttercup, is something wrong? ... .. Put you on speaker? I'm talking with Dexter..." A short pause is heard. "I see. Alright." He says as he presses a button. "Hey Dexter..." A female voice is heard and Butch's eyes go wide. Boomer holds his shoulder and shakes his head. Butch squats back down and maintains stealth.

"Hey Buttercup. Why do you want to talk with us, if you don't mind me asking?" – "Are you guys talking about what might happen if we fail to contain this shit?" Dexter looks surprised to see Buttercup talking about the same thing they were. "Y-Yes... you are too?" – "Yeah, I can't get any sleep. I mean, Bubbles is passed out on the bed next to me, she ate like a pig... but... I can't get any shuteye."

The professor speaks up: "We were... talking about alternatives to fighting this head on, yes." – "Yeah? Like what? Cutting the power off at the source?" – "How did you..." – "I was thinking about that too. If this gets completely out of control, we need to find some semblance of power over Model M... or whatever the hell that thing is." Dexter looks over to the phone. "We were... talking about the same thing..." – "You mean... killing everyone if it comes to that?"

The professor and Dexter look at each other, wearing different expressions. "We haven't agreed on anything yet, but the Professor's research yielded a kind of chemical that might be just what we need." – "Chemical, huh? Found out a way to harness it, yet?" – "Not yet, I'll keep you posted." – "Alright... oh, and Dexter? One last thing." – "What?"

"Be good to Blossom..." *CLICK...*

Dexter walks off and the Professor is left to his own thoughts. He walks by the Rowdyruffs without them being detected. Soon after, they leave the school and fly back into the security of the night-time sky.

"Is that proof enough, Brisbaine?" – "So far... all we have evidence on is Buttercup... not Blossom or Bubbles. You have our authorization to move in on her, but not the others." – "What if they come to her... 'Defense?' What then?" – "It would count as a direct and premeditated obstruction of justice and interference with government agents. Therefore..." – "Therefore we would have jurisdiction... Thank you Brisbaine. RR Out."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** _And that begins the Second War. The Second War reads a BIT like the Chronometal Panic, except the three "tangents" (Called angles here) all occur at the same time and are all canon instead of just 1 being canon. It gives insights into character actions and motivations. This is NOT The Chronometal Renaissance, where Barasia, Otto, Dexter, and Blossom travel through time. This is the ruined timeline. SPOILER ALERT! Everyone dies._

 _... Maybe not TOO much of a spoiler, I mean, you've read the first story, right?_


	2. Blossom 1: Model B

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Blossom's Side  
Chapter One: Model B

The sun is starting to come up and Blossom hasn't gotten a wink of sleep, even through the crippling boredom of nothing to do. She wishes she could do more to help the people of Megaville, but they already cleaned just about everything up already to her surprise. All that's left to do is rebuild... and that will take time and meticulous planning an action hero like Blossom simply doesn't have.

Besides, it's their city. They should be the ones to plan their own futures. If they want her help, they'll ask...

Is what keeps she keeps telling herself as she sits at her table, with nothing at all to do. But then all of a sudden-

"Blossom!" Some random city goer bellows, suddenly barging into her house. "What, what is it?" She asks the panting man. "There's... there's something going on outside Megaville..." – "What? What kind of something?" – "I think it's a Knight..." Blossom's eyes go wide.

"A Knight...?! Are you sure? They all died out there... except..." Blossom pauses. "I understand. Where was this?" – "South, just outside the city. A big warehouse that hasn't seen any life for years." – "Alright, inform everyone of what's going on." – "Don't worry; I already did... even Dexter. He said that something came up at the north of Megaville too, so he couldn't go. When I suggested sending you to the south, he got really scary all of a sudden..."

"Scary...?" – "He told me under no circumstances was I to tell you about this... but I'm so scared that something horrible could be going on down there that I ran as fast as I could here..." Blossom has a far away look in her eyes. "You did well; I'll take care of this." She says as she flies out the door and to the south.

"Dexter... what the hell has gotten into you...?!" She fumes, just about sick of how he's acting. "When this is over, we are going to have a talk, even if I have to pry the words out of you... what if there are people here, Dexter- What if they need help?! Dang it..."

She flies over the outskirts and views what scared that man so much... a seemingly derelict building is shining and flashing white light all over the area.

Blossom questions whether or not to go in... If it's Olga, they could probably talk... but if it's anyone else... Blossom considers the possibility that she won't be able to take them on. Her eyes dart around the building and the surrounding area, taking in possible escape routes in case things go south.

She lands outside of the flashing building and nears the door. She looks in the window, quickly blinded by the flashing lights. She shakes her head and regains her composure.

"Well, I have these for a reason... might as well use them." She says to herself as she takes out a pair of fancy looking sunglasses. They seem weathered. She quietly opens the door and she can hear noises inside... it sounds like a saw buzzing against wooden planks.

The white flashes are dimmer now that she has the glasses on, but they are still very bright. She rushes into the room where the flashes are coming from, battle ready!

... But there isn't anyone or anything in it. The flashes seem to be coming right through the floor of this room. Blossom seems confused but continues to walk through the building. She finds a stairway down and cautiously climbs it downward.

She sees more flashing white, but what is most surprising is what she sees before the flashes. A tentacle of white energy is seeping through the walls before bursting into a glorious white explosion.

"What the heck...?" She asks herself, covering her vision with her arm to shield her eyes from the bright light. She walks towards a door along the wall the tentacle seeped out of, but as she touches the doorknob she hears something behind the wall.

It sounds like more sawing, but she can hear something else... it sounds like...

A little girl crying!

Blossom kicks the door down and rushes into the room and what she sees shocks her!

"B-BELL?!" It is indeed Bell, but she is still covered in the wires and cords she was invaded with when she died... Tendrils of white energy leave her being and explode around the room as she continues to cut at her own arm with a saw, crying all the way!

"Bell, what's going on?! What are you doing to yourself?!" – "GET AWAY FROM ME!" Bell yells and smacks Blossom away as she tries to pull the saw away. "Bell..." – "GO AWAY BLOSSOM! Let me die... alone..." She mopes as she takes the saw to her throat!

"Bell, STOP IT!" Blossom yells as she tears the saw from her hands and breaks it on the ground. Bell merely looks at it and collapses to her knees as more tendrils of energy escape from her and burst into white light.

"It doesn't matter... I couldn't kill myself even if I tried... my skin is too hard..." – "What...?" Bell looks up into Blossom's eyes, tears in her own. "I don't know what I am... my skin... it's so rough and metallic... and I can't even feel my own heart beat anymore... why is this happening? I want it to stop... I want to go home..."

Blossom thinks to herself... before coming up with a question:

"Home? But... you can go home right now... and why were you trying to kill yourself?" – "I can't go home. Not like this..." She mopes as she picks up one of the large wires sticking out of her back, before dropping it back on the ground. "I'm not a girl... I'm... a zombie robot..."

Blossom kneels down to Bell's level. Her power is immense, so much more than the last time they fought... but right not Blossom is counting her lucky stars Bell isn't fighting her right now- or she'd be in trouble.

"How did you get here? Everyone thought you were dead..." – "Everyone...? Who's everyone?" – "Well... all of the people of Megaville. Your love for your father and even Susan is what made it possible for us to beat Model M... you were a hero, Bell... and we all thought you died... you don't remember any of that?"

Bell shakes her head, tears still falling to the ground. "What do you remember?" – "I remember... feeling so sad and so tired... and then all I can remember is light... then... darkness..." – "Darkness? Probably because you... died..." – "No... It was something else..."

She looks up at Blossom.

"There was a dark energy all around me... I couldn't open my eyes, but I heard someone. Someone was near me... it was a girl... she kept talking to herself... something about 'sister...' I don't know what it meant... but the next I knew... I was here- in this building." She looks around the derelict building, the energy seeping off of her finally starting to die down.

"I looked around, at myself... I'm a monster... I'm so scared and I can't go home like this... and I don't even feel like myself anymore. I feel like someone else- something else... it hurts to breathe and it's impossible to even think... I just want to die..." She looks over to Blossom one last time.

"Please..."

"Bell... I'm not going to kill you..." Bell chokes up, energy still somewhat radiating off of her, but not to the point where Blossom needs to wear her glasses anymore.

"Ha... I thought you wouldn't... you didn't do it before, so you won't do it now... typical." – "I'm sorry, but I'm a hero. I don't 'kill.' Ever." Bell merely sits there on the floor, wiring and cables sticking out of every extremity and orifice.

"It's mostly gone, but I can still feel the taint I felt before... I'm still Model M, Blossom..." Blossom's eyes go wide, so sure that they destroyed all of Model M before! If a single shard is left undestroyed, it could coalesce into a completely new Model M! Bell looks up.

"Still don't want to kill me?" – "YES! Or... NO! I... I'm not going to kill you- it's not your fault! We just... we just need to find a way to get the Model M outside of you." – "Don't bother... it was injected right into me before I even fused with Su-... Model M. It's as much a part of me as my own skin..." She says before sighing, pinching her metallic skin.

"Never mind- MORE than my own skin..." Blossom looks around in thought, unsure how to react to this. "Bell, I... I don't know what I can do for you..." – "I already told you what you can do..." – "I CAN'T DO THAT!" Blossom yells.

Bell turns her head down and begins to cry again... and at that same moment more of her energy begins to spike and fork off in random directions before exploding into light, forcing Blossom to put back on her Glasses.

"Do you know why I'm doing this, Blossom...?" – "You mean... there was a reason? I thought you couldn't control it." – "There is something in me I can't control, yes... but it's not the energy. It's Model M's growth... I can feel it growing in me, Blossom..."

Blossom thinks to herself. Emotion is what causes Model M to grow and here Bell is crying... as she started crying she started unleashing this energy, lots of it.

Then it hits Blossom!

"You are unleashing the pent up energy from Model M?" – "Yes... and there's more... I'm actively destroying it with my own energy... well, bits of it at least. The minute growths caused by my emotional state... I'm breaking them little by little- that's what these lights are..."

She says as more and more lights erupt before finally calming down again.

"The more I think about my own situation, I feel more and more helpless... the fear of unleashing Model M, the sadness that I'll never get to see Daddy again... and the hatred of the Knights for what they did to me..." – "Bell... the Knights are dead..." – "No, they aren't... I can feel them..."

Blossom remembers that Olga is still alive, but something about what Bell just said perplexes her.

"Them? Them who? I thought there was only Olga alive?" – "No... I can feel them... they are all alive and even stronger than before... their energy burns..." Bell says, clutching onto herself with both arms, wrapping them around her body.

"The pain... the Model M... it's... it's too much- I can't take it Blossom... P-Please... put me out of my misery...!" Blossom sulks and looks over to Bell who is rocking her cuddled body over and over, trying to dull the pain.

"Isn't there anything else I can do for you...?" – "What do you mean?" – "Is killing you the only way? Is there no other way I can help you with your pain?" Bell stops rocking herself and thinks a little bit, as much as she can think without her poisoned thoughts getting in the way anyway.

"There is this strange feeling in me... a feeling that- I am only one half of a greater whole..." – "What? What's that supposed to mean?" – "I don't know... but, when you asked that question, something triggered in my mind..." – "Half of a whole... do you mean... you need someone else to help you become whole?"

Bell shakes her head. "It's more than that... it's not just 'me' who changes, the other person must change too... then we both become something bigger..." Bell keeps thinking through this triggered response in her mind before something spikes-

"GAH! No, NO!" She growls as she tightly grasps her core as more energy is expelled! The brightest energies Bell has let off yet explode next to Blossom, blinding and deafening her temporarily!

"B-Bell?! What's going on?!" – "AHH...! THE... MODEL M... IT'S... COMING AGAIN...! I CAN'T HOLD IT BACK...!" Bell cries, shaking her head and rising to her feet! The energy waves coming off her begin to tint gray...!

"Bell!" – "Bloss... om..." She quietly says as she tries to best to maintain her sanity. She holds out her hand, looking into Blossom's eyes as her own begin to leak black tears. "Help..."

Blossom has a puzzled expression, but takes her hand. Bell uses both of her arms and embraces Blossom as hard as she can as all of her energy comes pouring out at once! Blossom braces for impact...!

(Outside the building.)

"WHAT IS THAT?!" A random person says as the building fluctuates between white and black flashes, so bright and so dark that everyone within a hundred miles can see it. Everyone near the building scramble for cover and others simply run away as fast as they can.

"What's going-" Someone tries to say as a brilliant explosion blasts the entire building to smithereens as the white light engulfs the entire area! The people cover their eyes and brace for impact, but the light simply wafts past them.

They open their eyes and stand up, looking around them. Brilliant patterns form around them. What look like people-shaped clouds dance in the explosion. Time slows to a halt as the people wander around. The building is gone, but a single being stands within. They timidly walk over to the crater left by the explosion to view her.

It's Blossom...! She is standing there, clad in a brilliantly crafted and beautifully accented suit of armor as white as her own changed hair.

The white energy dies down finally as the people realize the only thing affected was the building. Everything else is completely fine. Blossom walks out of the crater as the people look on in awe. Her eyes face forward, as if looking through the mountains in front of her to something greater.

She flexes her arms and various muscles. She feels stronger than ever before. "Bell..." She says under her breath.

'Yes?' – "What the...?!" Blossom recoils, before putting things into perspective.

"Wait, is this what you meant? About changing both of us into something greater?" – 'Yes...' – "But, what about Model M?" – 'Did you see the beautiful dancing memories just now?' – "Yeah... what about them?" – 'Those were the last good memories of Susan. I let the Model M sleep at last...'

Blossom's eyes go wide.

"You... you actually stopped Model M? Without destroying it?" – 'It's as much a part of me as you are now, Blossom... don't worry. It's just tired. If it wants to, it will help us.' – "O-Okay... I trust you." A faint giggling noise emanates from the armor.

'Good... trust is key, now that we are one being.'

Everyone around her is speechless. Even though they are not superheroes, they can feel the absolute energy emanating off her. It's not as conspicuous as Dexter, but it's definitely something to behold.

"Bell, you said something about the Knights still being alive? Are you sure?" – 'Yes, I can still feel them...' – "Well? Where are they?" Blossom asks. The people around her seem to think she's talking to herself, but some of them are familiar with Dexter doing the same thing- so they just assume it comes with the territory of having a Chronometal.

"Bell?" – 'Sorry, Blossom. I can't tell you the exact locations, but I know they are out there. I can feel them linked to Model M.' – "Well can you point me in the right direction at least?" – 'You mean you are going to go after them? They are much stronger than before, Blossom...' – "Yeah, well that's more of a reason to stop them now before they hurt more people, right?"

A faint laughing is heard from the metal.

'A hero through and through I see. Fine, I felt one of them in the mountains to the west. In the ruins of their old base.' – "Got it... wait, I thought their base was underneath Megaville?" – 'I...' Bell stutters, almost seeming to confuse herself.

'It's strange. I don't know how I know that either.' Blossom thinks a bit... is it really worth going over there if there isn't anything there? She looks over to the people. If she leaves, Megaville will be defenseless...

"Perhaps we should wait for Dexter to return first..." Blossom says. But before long, she beings to feel anxious, but she doesn't know why.

'Blossom...' – "What is it, Bell?" – 'Dexter is fighting the Knights as we speak...' Blossom recoils. "Wh-Where?!" – 'He's north, among other ruins of the base.' – "What? Why is he- never mind, we have to help him!" – 'But what about the people of Megaville? If we leave that other Knight alone, they could come under attack.' – "How many Knights is Dexter fighting?" – 'Uh... two, I think.' – "So that means the only other one is west, I'll take him on! If all of the Knights are being fought at once- they can't possibly attack Megaville!"

Blossom flies off faster than ever before; she almost overshoots it right into a building before slowing herself down.

"Whoa, gotta get used to this thing eventually." She flies off again- with a little more restraint.

She eventually comes to an unassuming part of the mountains before she feels guided to a large doorway in the mountainside. It seems to be a mine tunnel. She walks into it and is greeted with a large brilliant crystal.

"Whoa..." Blossom says, viewing it and rubbing it. It is large and blue. It looks as thought it were humongous azure quartz. 'I've heard of this mineral before... it's Arkanite.' – "Arkanite? What's that?" – 'Daddy was researching it a while ago... apparently it is a very special mineral that blocks all electronic scanning and lets off a small electromagnetic field. I think the military was trying to use it a while ago.'

Blossom nods and heads deeper into the cavern, now sufficiently acquainted with the Arkanite crystal. It's very spacious inside... several pools of still water, small Arkanite crystals within.

"For a mineral so rare I've never even heard of it until now- it seems to be very common here." – 'Yes... I don't quite understand it myself. Daddy spent months trying to get a single sample, but here they are- in tons...'

They move further into the cave and come to a stone door, blasted open and moss growing over the hinges.

"Is this the place?" – 'I think so...' They move in quietly...

What Blossom sees shocks her! An entire factory, hidden away from Megaville...! It wasn't under Megaville either. It's unpowered and plants are starting to grow over some of the main systems but this was definitely in use less than a couple months ago.

She walks over to several blasted open gates before a question lingers on her mind.

"It seems like someone broke into here before us..." She views the smudges on the gates... they are old- not too old... but old.

"Maybe a few weeks ago?" – 'I wonder...' – "Hmm?" – 'Daddy was saying something about some people who came in here before these wars started. They kept coming back with more and more equipment. Daddy said it was very odd that they never came back here in force...' – "Huh... that is kind of odd. Were they the Knights?" – 'No, I think they were the ones who broke in first...' – "Well, regardless, I don't think this place is inhabited anymore."

"Not by the living... not anymore..." A person, their voice both masculine and feminine lets out from the darkness.

"Show yourself!" Blossom says, in a defensive position.

A being steps out of the shade. Seemingly a robot clad in deep blue armor wielding two frost-bitten scythes. Artificial hair dangles down over the being's face. Blue hair, bedraggled and unkempt. A single piercing eye burns through the darkness and looks right at Blossom.

"Wait... you're..." – "MICHEAL...!" A pained voice growls, the scythes being dragged along the ground, freezing it and causing sparks.

"I thought you were dead...!" – "Dead? Haha... I was never really alive! Now I can see the light! THE REAL LIGHT!" He says, raising his scythes into the air with ease, regardless of their massive size. He looks back over to Blossom, his matted blue hair spilling over his face.

"Now, fused with Leviathan, she has shown me the true path..." He says before his voice begins to distort-

"THE PATH OF DEATH AND DARKNESS!" A mixture of male and feminine voices yells out as he lunges at Blossom! Blossom bats the scythes away with her fists and attacks Micheal hand to hand. The scythes morph into smaller swords which Micheal uses to parry her attacks. He lands a fierce blow, slashing her down her core and smacking her away!

She growls through the pain and rises to her feet. 'Blossom, you need to use weapons- like Dexter...' – "But he conjures them from nowhere, I can't do that!" – 'No, but I can!' Bell lets out as a sword lands in Blossom's hand.

She activates it and it glows a brilliant white. Micheal once again charges Blossom down but she holds both of his blades back with her single B-Saber.

"Gun, left ha-" – 'Got it.' A gun appears in Blossom's left hand- as her right hand is holding the blade and she puts it right up to his head.

"You lose." She says as she pulls the trigger and white energy fires through his head! But he doesn't relent, he only breaks into a toothy grin, his teeth made of iron and ice...

"It doesn't work like that anymore, Blossom..." He hisses, his blades turning once more into scythes and he scissors them around her defensive grip and blasts her saber away! She tries to get it back but he clamps down on her with both weapons at once, causing them to penetrate her skin and hold her in place.

"I'm going to enjoy this more than you can possibly imagine...!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _And that was how Blossom ended up getting Model B, and then subsequently got ambushed by a killer robot. May seem like a bad deal, but to Blossom it's just Tuesday._ _  
_


	3. Dexter 1: Possible Armistice

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Dexter's Side  
Chapter One: Possible Armistice

Dexter has an unholy fire burning in him. The thoughts going through his mind, to what he has to do to Blossom to make her go way. He's finally psyched himself into forcing it upon them both. From this moment on, her inclusion in these wars cannot be accepted.

He has a far away look in his eyes, standing in the middle of Megaville. Knowing what he must do to Blossom, but knowing that he still has to help the people of Megaville the best he possibly can. As he gets done thinking to himself a hysterical man comes running down the street-

"Dexter! Dexter! Please, you have to do something!" – "Hold on, what is it?" The man grabs his chest and takes a few breaths. "Okay... okay... the outskirts of the city... there is a building that is flashing with an odd white light... at first it seemed like nothing, but it's been flashing over and over and getting brighter!"

Dexter thinks to himself as to what that could possibly be. "A Knight perhaps?" – "A Knight...?!" Before Dexter can respond he feels something horrible. He grabs his head and fights back a terrible pain!

"Are you alright, Dexter?!" – "Gah... muh...!" He mutters, before the pain finally dies down. As he opens his eyes he somehow knows exactly what caused this pain.

"Elly and Drax... they are still alive." – "Huh?" – "I'm sorry. This 'flashing' will have to wait. I have something to do." – "Oh- uh... okay..." Dexter begins to run off before the man continues-

"Should I have Blossom check out the light?" After he says that Dexter stops dead in his tracks and looks away with a burning in his eyes. He walks over to the helpless man and imposes over him, knowing this is for everyone's good.

"Under NO circumstances are you to tell Blossom about this- are we clear?" – "Wh-What?" – "ARE WE CLEAR?!" Dexter yells! "Y-Yes...! We're clear..." – "Good." Dexter says before flying off to the north to meet with the energy he just felt.

'Are you sure they are up here, Dexter?' – "I'm not sure why, but yes... I'm sure. They just called for me." – 'But, you look like you are ready for battle...' – "I am. This is obviously a trap." – 'Then why are you going in?' Dexter thinks a small bit, flying through the air.

"Mandark said that the Armors on them live on. To what end? Are they still 'them?' Or are they completely different people? Needless to say, Mandark warned me of these things. I'm not going to take them lightly, or let them take ME lightly either. If I want these wars to end, I have to break them down."

Dexter passes the city limits and crosses into the extension of the mountain surrounding Megaville. He lands next to a broken piece of equipment jutting out of the side of the cliffs.

"What is this...? It's broken... but..." He says as he rubs it. "It was only recently broken, like a few weeks... something happened here... WAIT...!" Dexter says as he begins to remember something-

"This is where I detected that large energy source before all of this began! Like it was a growing explosion of pure energy! Is that what happened here?" Dexter asks himself, looking around the mountain, before finding a doorway in.

He walks in, clearing rubble out of the way before coming to some metal walls. "This was definitely a base of some sorts... was it the Knights'?" He asks himself before moving further in. He comes to a fork in the installation, but the left side is caved in so he moves right, coming to a dimly lit room.

Boxes are arranged in a formation that suggests that there was a firefight here, but not with magic or machines... just- regular firearms. There was a lot of traffic here- and recently. "What the hell happened here...?" – 'I don't know... but I feel so much sadness emanating from this area...' Dexter looks over and sees another path that leads deeper into the installation.

He passes through the gate and comes to something awe inspiring! Four gigantic pillars, one Blue, one Red, one Green and one Purple. "The Knights' colors... This definitely was their base."

"Yes- it was. How perceptive" A deep sarcastic voice blurts.

Dexter turns around to be met with a living suit of burning armor. It looks at Dexter through the flames, but stands its ground. Dexter draws his weapon and begins to speak.

"Drax?" – "Close, but no cigar. The name's Fefnir- and I'll be your Drax for today!" – "Cute, now defend yourself!" Dexter says, going into a battle-ready position. Fefnir extends his arms to his sides and burning fists appear from within the flames and attach to his hands.

"It's funny how you think you can take us on. You know, two on one! Harpuia- NOW!" Fefnir says as Dexter is knocked down face first into the metal flooring. He has barely enough strength to move his head to view his assailant.

It's a very serious looking man with his iron boot on his head looking down on him. Green aerodynamic armor and everything- just like Elly.

"H-Harpy...?" Dexter mutters. "The name's Harpuia..." He says with his two purple blades mere inches from Dexter's face. They could kill him right now and there would be nothing he could do about it, but he's still alive...

"What... do you want from me?" Dexter says, muffled by the floor. Harpuia keeps his boot on Dexter as he begins to talk.

"There are a couple disturbances within our team... Micheal and Olga..." He lets out, confusing Dexter. What is the correlation between those two? One of them is dead and the other is gone... they seemingly have no relation.

"What... do you mean? What about them? Gah, can you GET OFF ME?!" Harpuia laughs and eases up on Dexter and backs up, his weapons still drawn. Dexter rises to his feet and puts his sword away. In no position to get aggressive- besides... he's curious about what they have to say.

"Micheal isn't fully expelled, yet..." – "Huh? What do you mean?" – "Look at Fefnir and I. Do we look ANYTHING like Drax or Elly?" Dexter looks over to the two. Fefnir discharges his flame and his face can finally be seen. Red eyes, but his face is completely unfamiliar.

"No, you don't... why?" – "We were anchored to them and their souls. When they died and we were finally freed, their souls were weak enough to be absorbed by us. We are finally re-completed. But our friend, Leviathan... she was absorbed by Micheal! But barely. Her soul is still within his. His soul is very close to breaking however." He looks Dexter dead in the eyes.

"I need you to finish breaking Micheal so our friend can be freed." – "Who 'ARE' you guys?" Fefnir walks up behind Dexter and begins to speak.

"We've come from a world far in the future of an alternate timeline- apparently... I'm not good with this time travel crap so I'll just give you the goodies. We were plucked from our dimension by someone called The Black Mother. She was strong and crafty. Before we even knew what was going on we were already dead or dying. But instead of letting us die like warriors, she did something horrible...!"

Harpuia follows on Fefnir's words. "Instead of killing us, she turned us into slaves to be used by humans. I've never been so humiliated in my life than when I was serving that stupid girl. But I digress- our friends are still trapped. Leviathan and Phantom and YOU are the only one who can free them."

"Me? Why me?" – "Your Chronometal has the power to absorb and sever souls. Surely you knew?"

Dexter dwells on the question for a few seconds... then a few minutes...

"We don't have all day-" – "If you want my help, you will let me think." Dexter snaps back. Fefnir's face scrunches up before he walks out of the room.

Dexter looks back up to Harpuia, who has now sheathed his weapons.

"I guess I can understand the severing part... but what do you mean about 'absorb' souls? I've never felt anything like that before." – "Haven't you?" Harpuia says and then pauses.

"There is no way around this. Come." He says, beckoning Dexter further into the ruined base. They walk into a room where there are bed-like mats strewn across the floor. Boxes are arranged just like before, as if to resist gunfire.

"Harpuia, do you know what happened here?" Dexter asks the green Machine Man. He responds, still walking down the halls.

"The Three and their military lackeys broke into our base a while ago. A lot of innocent people died." – "Innocent? Like who?" – "You know... innocents. Civilians, people who had nothing to do with this." – "The Military brought civilians here and killed them?" – "No, they were already here."

Dexter stops in his tracks, causing Harpuia to turn back.

"Already here...? You mean they were in the Knights' base before this happened? Was the Military trying to break them out?" – "No, Dexter. They were killing them. That's why the boxes are arranged like this." – "Were they helping the Knights in some way-" – "Does that matter to you?!" Harpuia snaps surprisingly.

"Listen, Dexter... these wars aren't... w-weren't so black and white at the start. We were enslaved to these four people, but their vision of the world... Dexter- I won't mince words... Micheal had a great plan with the world." – "Oh yeah- and what was that?" – "He was going to control the world and shatter every government, putting Model M- the voice of God in charge of everyone- of everything. The absolute faith, fear and respect born of an actual God ruling over the world? It would eradicate sin, Dexter."

"There you guys go again with this God crap- if he wants to control this world so bad, why doesn't he come down and do it himself?!" – "He can't." Harpuia lets out simply before turning around and walking down the halls again.

"Hey, don't run away! What do you mean-" – "This conversation isn't important in the slightest. Follow me to the pinnacle of the mountain." Dexter grumbles before following Harpuia into the next room.

In it, he sees some strange devices... followed by a huge influx of stockpiled Nano-Steel.

"What was worked on here...?" – "Model M." – "Whoa... I would love to study these machines." – "You will have all the time in the world to study these once the world is safe." – "Wait... you are... HOLD ON!" Dexter yells, causing Harpuia to stop again.

"What the hell is going on?! What do you guys even want?" – "Dexter... calm down. I can explain everything as time permits and something tells me you want to speed things along as fast as I do." – "What makes you say that?" – "Your girlfriend, Blossom... she's about to be killed by Micheal." Dexter's eyes grow wide and his face loses color. Harpuia expected him to be a little shocked but it looks like Dexter just saw a hundred ghosts.

"Are... you alright?" Harpuia asks as Dexter slumps up against a wall and slides down, breathing deeply. "Dexter...?" – "Damn it... I should have scared her away from these wars a long time ago... why the fuck did I hold it off for so long...?" He mutters to himself before covering his face with his hands as if he has failed the biggest mission of his life. Harpuia begins to feel a little concerned that there is more to this than he realizes. He walks over to Dexter and kneels down to his level.

"Dexter... what's wrong? Is it Micheal? Or Blossom?" – "Blossom... she isn't supposed to be here... this is so bad..." – "What's so bad? If you hurry along you can save her!" – "It's not that..." Harpuia looks stumped. What else could it be other than the life of the woman he loves?

"Mandark told me if she got involved in this war we were all doomed..." – "Mandark? You mean, Model M?" – "No... The real Mandark." Harpuia's eyes go wide.

"You... you mean it worked?! Model M truly resurrected Mandark?! Was he as strong as we all imagined?" Dexter merely nods. "Then... where is he?!" – "He's gone- again." – "WHAT DO YOU MEAN GONE?!" – "He came back at full power. Like you said, he was really strong. But he said he didn't want this." Harpuia relents and diverts his gaze.

"Then what? How is he gone?" – "I'm not sure. He said it wasn't his time to return yet. Then he just... fizzled away." – "I see... so... why is Blossom being attacked so terrible that you have to act like this?" – "Before he went away he told me something... something very important. That if Blossom were to get involved, that this entire world would be destroyed." Harpuia rises to his feet and turns around.

"Mandark said this? All of this?" – "Yes." – "Then it's irrefutable. We need to stop Blossom. We need to save her and then we need to send her away." Dexter looks up to Harpuia who turns back to meet his eyes. "You... believe me?" – "I believe Mandark." He says as he extends his hand to help Dexter up to his feet.

"But first, I need to teach you to unlock the potential of your Chronometal." They both walk up the stairs and through an odd corridor. One path looks like a jungle, another looks like an ice cavern, one looks like deep space and another looks like its covered in magma, albeit cooled magma. They exit the room through a doorway and once again find themselves outside.

They walk up a stone path and come across a jutting spire of stone with a faint white light emitting off of it.

"What's that...? It seems so familiar..." – "The residual power from when Malignancy was destroyed." – "Malignancy? What's that?" – "A variation of Model M that can attack Earth on a global scale." – "Whoa... who destroyed it? The Three?" – "Indeed. They were very strong humans, but today isn't about them. It's about you. I want you to destroy this energy, Dexter." Harpuia says, pointing at the spire of stone.

"Huh...? Okay..." Dexter says reluctantly as he draws his weapon. He walks over to the spire and cuts it, to no avail. He takes out his pistol and shoots it- also to no avail. "Huh... it's pretty tough." – "Remember what you did to Model M at The Crash? The emotion that coursed through you and into your weapon...? You know what to do."

Dexter turns back around to view the stone spire and closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He knows the power he harnessed that time... He raises the sword above him and thinks about everything this war has done to the world. The people killed and the children orphaned... the pain everyone has been through. He harnesses his anger, his fear, his happiness and his hope into the blade and it once again glows a brilliant gold! He swings it down on the spire as hard as he can and it blows in half, chunks of rock and boulder flying everywhere!

A faint dark energy courses around Dexter and enters his armor. In his mind... he envisions fire, wind, thunder, rain, oceans, magma, darkness and light. Everything is bursting forward and everything he has ever learned in these wars pour out all at once! The fire shield he used to deflect heat, the thunder lance he used to destroy heavy machinery, the frost missile he used to penetrate the magical shield!

Dexter effortlessly flies above the ground without gyrating the air around him and he turns around to look at Harpuia.

"I see what you mean now. The soul absorbing... the soul severing... I've been doing it all along without knowing. But now, I'm ready. I'm ready for whatever these wars have in store for me!"

"Are you sure you're ready for such things? This isn't a game. The stakes are life and death and whether or not the world even has a future." – "I know." Dexter responds flatly.

Dexter looks over to Megaville and thinks.

"Harpuia, you and Fefnir go save Blossom." – "Wait, us? What are you going to do?" – "I can feel someone I almost forgot... I'm going to go pay her a visit. Rescue Blossom and tell her to leave this place forever. This is no place for her, not anymore." Dexter says as he flies off, not awaiting Harpuia's response.

Dexter flies through the air faster than ever while exerting almost no energy at all. He touches his chest with his palm and thinks...

"Is this the power of Model M?"

He shakes his head and continues forward; following the feelings he has to where 'she' is. He finds himself soon at the ruins of Mandark's old lab from over seven years ago.

He lands and walks towards a giant crack in the wall, cloth scraps and various things hanging off it. He walks in between the cracks and enters a room he didn't expect at all.

This entire room has been completely rebuilt. Pictures, carpets and drapes. Nothing electronic, it's all memorabilia. It's all pictures of Mandark and his little sister Olga.

He turns to his left to see a girl sitting in a chair looking at him. It's none other than Olga herself, her Bio-Simbiote unequipped and sitting on the nearby bed.

"So... you came... why?" – "I need your help." – "Turns out everyone needs my help today... although I must admit you haven't attacked me yet so that puts you higher on my list... what's up?" Dexter is baffled at how informal she's being.

"Are... you okay Olga?" – "Yeah, just fine." She says with a very... VERY forced smile, but there aren't any cracks in her façade. Dexter finds a mat and sits down on it and looks around. This room was very well repaired. You can hardly tell that just a few inches away from these walls are total wreckage.

"Did you repair this place?" – "Yes... yesterday in fact." – "Y-Yesterday?! But... that was-" – "The Crash, I know. I was there, after all. After the battle with Model M, I almost forgot what was important to me... so I came here... to remember and never forget again." Dexter looks around the room again.

"Phantom. Can you hear me?" Dexter asks unexpectedly. "Hmm? What is it, boy?" – "Do you feel like you are... trapped here? Do you want to be free and join Harpuia and Fefnir...?"

... ... ... ... ... A long and piercing silence crosses the room.

"So... my friends made it out of their prison? It matters not. I have a job to do." – "A job, huh? Does it involve world domination?" – "Hah, we aren't worried about controlling the world anymore. The people have spoken... they don't want to be controlled, don't worry." – "Good... because I came here to... kind of ask a favor."

"A favor?" Olga tilts her head. Dexter stands up and looks to Olga.

"Blossom... she's putting herself in too much danger... she could die if she stays involved in these wars. I want you to help convince her to leave." – "Are we friends now?" Olga almost laughs- "We tried to kill each other less than 48 hours ago!" – "Please, Olga. We were all friends once, remember?"

Olga frowns, not wanting to remember the past.

"I've burned those bridges, Dexter. I'm not the same little girl you... you..." She looks up to Dexter.

"That you kissed that day. I'm just a phantom of my former self who's only goal in life now is to get her brother back. We aren't and cannot ever be friends again." – "That's not true, Olga... I know you think it's the end of the world now, but there is still so much you can do! Life is short, but not so short that you think it has to end now! You aren't even twenty years old yet! Your entire life is ahead of you, Olga!"

She laughs and covers her face.

"You sound just like my parents did before... you know... the wars took them." – "The wars took my parents too, Olga... but here I am trying to stop this whirlwind of death before it gets out of hand... Please..." Dexter says, extending his hand to Olga. "Let's end this... together." Olga smiles and begins to tear up.

"God damn you Dexter for making me feel this way again...!" She says, her face betraying her words as she smiles. She takes his hand and rises to her feet with him.

"O-Okay... let's go stop Blossom, Dexter... together, as friends!" Dexter nods as she equips her Bio-Simbiote and transforms back into her Chronometal Self.

"Is Model M destroyed, by the way? Like... really destroyed?" – "Honestly? No. Some are lying dormant somewhere in the southern hemisphere... I think there might be one in Megaville somewhere, but I looked for it and couldn't find it."

"Maybe once all of this is over, we can go and deactivate them?" – "But... Susan..." – "Those things aren't Susan, Olga. You know this. You saw what happened at The Crash. He's gone. I'm sorry." Olga looks away, pained.

"I started to see a change in him after those Three started breaking it... he started getting more and more... d-different. I thought that it was nothing- I hoped that it was nothing, but I think you're right... He's gone... I'll... n-never see him again."

'That's not true!' A girl's voice echoes through the conversation. "What the?!" Olga looks around rapidly, the familiar voice causing her to feel something.

'Olga... you will see your brother again, I promise...' – "D-Deedee?! Is that you?!" Olga blubbers before Dexter taps her on the shoulder. He points to his chest. "You... you mean Deedee is in there...? Really? I thought that when we made Model D that... ah- forget what I thought! Deedee, is that really you?"

'Yes, it is, Olga... it's nice to see you again under good circumstances this time.' – "Haha... yeah, sorry about the whole fighting before, I was-" – 'There's not need to explain. I understand completely. You were fighting to get your brother back, just as I'm fighting to help mine.' – "You sound... good, Deedee... like you aren't even dead, like you aren't even angry... like... you're happy..."

'I am happy, Olga. Please, follow Dexter and help him fix this world and the people in it. These wars have opened their eyes to the afterlife, your goal has been accomplished- but now they are frightened for their lives... you can help them Olga. You can still achieve a world free of sin through kindness, not force.'

"World free of sin? That was Micheal's idea, not mine..." – 'But you felt it... you felt that you could have your brother back... in a perfect world. Where you two could be happy in a safe world, together. And believe me, Olga... nothing would make him happier than to have a world where everyone is happy and pure.'

Olgas smile and begins to almost glow. Dexter hasn't seen her 'this' happy in... Ever! She nods.

"Okay, I will! Let's fix this world with you two, together- with 'all' of us as friends again!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _The Second War is where Dexter finally begins to crack. He may seem somewhat Zen in the first story after they come back from the future, but one must remember that these wars seriously messed him up. He had so much on his plate with Olga, Mandark, Blossom, the Wars, Deedee, even Bell. In the end he found it easier to stop feeling than to try to help everyone. It may not look that way NOW, but, you know, you already know how this all ends.  
_


	4. Rowdyruff 1: Premeditation

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Team Rowdyruff's Side  
Chapter One: Premeditation

"We have a lot on our agenda." The leader, Brick lets out, addressing his two siblings.

"What's first on the list?" Boomer asks, prompting a response.

"Well, Buttercup AND Bubbles are out of town at the moment- in Townsville of all places. So until they return, which should be in a few days... we need to gather as much information as possible." Everyone nods before Butch speaks up.

"We need to find this 'Olga' chick, right? Where would we go about finding her?" – "We should start where she's been seen before." Brick responds before fiddling with his wrist device.

Everyone has their own and begin to use it as well. A few locations pop up. The western mountain, the northern power plant and Mandark's destroyed lab.

"Olga hasn't been spotted in the lab in years, but we had an unconfirmed source say they saw SOMEONE go there earlier. I'll head up the search there myself. You two, head out to the other locations. If nothing else, if you can't find her- get as much information about the situation as possible." Brick commands before flying off.

"Man, why does he get to make all the big choices?" – "Why do you complain about that 'every' time?" Boomer responds before flying off to the factory. "W-WAIT! You mean I have to scout out the FUCKING MOUNTAINS?! HOW BORING!" He fumes.

* * *

(Boomer)

Flipping over every overturned stone and taking mental notes of anything possibly abnormal, Boomer does a textbook job of surveying the scene. He walks around before coming across the internal factory which is in surprisingly good shape. Every single power conduit is blown out, but all the hardware is still more or less intact.

Boomer makes a note of this before feeling something behind him. It feels like a person, a person stalking him, but instead of facing them head on... he simply acts like he doesn't know he's there.

He continues walking around, now aimlessly flipping objects over without looking at them. He is putting all of his energy into listening and feeling around him. There is DEFINITELY someone here.

He picks up a piece of paper before his patience pays off- the person attacks swiftly! A less prepared person would probably find this impossible to dodge, but Boomer ducks under the attack and trips the person! He barely lands on his hands and blasts Boomer back with a strong gust. He lands on his feet and views his assailant. It is apparently a man in a green suit of armor.

"How did you...?" – "You aren't very good at sneaking." Boomer responds quickly. The man extends his arms to the side and they erupt into two purple blades.

"Who are you?" Boomer asks. "I am Harpuia- and you are a threat to our plan, Rowdyruff!" Harpuia yells out as he charges Boomer down!

* * *

(Butch)

"Fucking mountain, fucking rocks, fucking dirt- what the fuck is that? OH- IT'S MORE FUCKING DIRT!" Butch fumes, kicking dirt and sand around, not sure what he's supposed to even be looking for.

He looks inside the lab, but it's completely destroyed and dirt is caked over everything. Not even any paperwork survived. It's a mechanical graveyard and Butch is going crazy.

He walks around fuming before something catches his ear. He stands perfectly still, not even his eyes are moving. He slowly reaches his hand into his right pocket and pulls a small ball out.

He looks around the dusty mountain very slowly until he hears something again! This time he throws the ball as hard as he can at the area, causing a large scale explosion and ensuing firestorm! Nothing can survive that, that's for sure.

Butch casually walks over to the area before a being bursts out of the flames and pins him to the ground with pincer-like fists. His armor is a bright orange and his face is covered in armor.

"And just who the hell are you?!" Butch asks, apparently not disheartened by the fact that he is completely pinned down. "Your executioner, Rowdyruff!" – "Not fucking likely!" Butch yells before somehow yanking himself free and punching the machine-man in the face so hard he is sent flying back several feet.

Butch rises to his feet and the armored man quickly realizes that he is much stronger than he thought. Butch smiles and lets out a taunt-

"You were saying?"

* * *

(Brick)

The lab of Mandark- completely destroyed and leveled more than seven years ago. People from the nearby town still occasionally come around here to gawk at the sheer size of the ruin. Some even go so far as to call this giant destroyed monument 'romantic.'

Brick very quietly floats just above the ground as to make zero noise. His killer instincts are fully honed, ready to break spines and snap necks at a moment's notice. Fully adept at hand to hand combat- as are the other Rowdyruffs, he is not to be taken lightly even by people much stronger than himself.

He floats around before something catches his eye and his ear. A faint silhouette of someone in a broken room and their feet walking on the ground. He flies in quickly and huddles against the wall before peaking in.

It's a girl in a suit of purple armor. He presses a button on his wrist to notify everyone that the target has been found. He waits for her to sit down or something before trying anything.

Her shadow fades and the noise disperses- this is his chance!

He rushes into the room- but... no-one's there... "Oh shi-" He tries to think to himself before something hits him in the back of the head. It would have normally knocked someone out, but Brick isn't a lightweight! In no time flat he completely turns around and throws Olga's momentum off before pinning her to the wall by the throat with his forearm.

She paws at his arm but he only pushes down harder! Any harder would certainly shatter her windpipe. "S-S-S-Stop!" She huffs as he relents slightly, her still being pinned against the wall but now able to breathe.

"You are Olga." – "Y-Yes I am!" – "You are going to help us." – "H-Help?! Get away from me!" – "You are guilty of actions causing the death of thousands of civilians. I am fully authorized to kill you right here-" He says, pushing down on her throat again.

"And you know I can..." Her eyes grow deep with fear. "Who... are you?" – "Brick. You are going to help me, or I'm going to kill you." – "F-Fine... what do you want?" She blubbers as Brick finally relents his pin on her. She falls to her knees and begins to cough. She looks up with pain and fear induced tears in her eyes.

* * *

(Boomer)

Boomer spends all of his energy simply dodging Harpuia's attacks instead of parrying. He is very fast and he cannot afford to slip up. The slices near his skin over and over and Boomer realizes he is mere seconds from death. Boomer is eventually backed up against the wall and realizes he can't dodge from this position, as does Harpuia!

He slices down as hard as he can with both blades and all Boomer can do is guard as best he can! The blades cut into his arm and burn through his suit causing massive pain! But then, Boomer does something unexpected...!

He grabs the two blades at their sharpest points and forces them down. His hands bleeding and cut. Harpuia tries to jerk them away but Boomer slowly drags him in. The blood from his arms and hands dripping to the floor, Boomer has a strange look in his eyes. He only lets out one word.

"Hardcore." He yells as he head butts Harpuia as hard as he can! He collapses on the ground, knocked out in one clean shot. Boomer reaches into a small sack on his waist and takes out a couple bandages. This entire ordeal has barely fazed him. He looks at Harpuia unconscious on the ground... he doesn't like that.

He slaps him as hard as he can and before Harpuia can react he grabs him by the throat and keeps him pinned on the ground, all the while keeping full eye contact.

"What do you want from me?" Boomer asks. "I... can't let you... get involved... we need the P-Powerpuffs...!" – "Powerpuffs? You mean the girls?!" – "They... are the key... to saving the world!" Boomer's face un-tenses a small bit. "I don't buy it. We came here to stop them." – "I know... you are the Rowdyruff Boys... long time enemy of the girls... you have been missing in action for years- but I knew you would one day return...! Especially now when they are at their most vulnerable!" – "Most vulnerable? What do you mean?"

"You mean... you don't know about Buttercup and Bubbles?" – "I know they are in Townsville, that's it." – "HAH! So you ignored them, huh? If you wanted your revenge... you could have had it on them, easy. They almost died over there... they will be back shortly however... stronger than ever!" – "I am here to bring them to justice, Harpuia." – "Justice? You? Don't make me laugh. You will accomplish nothing other than further destabilizing these wars! If you want your revenge on them, do it after they have saved this world! Or you will doom us all..." Boomer gets up and backs away.

"Whether or not you are telling the truth or are simply a babbling madman doesn't concern me, you've given me some good information. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Boomer says before flying off. Harpuia rubs his neck. "This isn't good." He says to himself.

* * *

(Butch)

The orange armored man tries to land a clean and heavy hit on Butch, to no avail. He simply plays with him, jumping over his attacks and making childish faces at him. "WILL YOU HOLD STILL?!" – "Not on your life, Jackass." Butch says slapping the back of his head before running off again. The enraged robot hurls explosives at Butch at supersonic speed, but Butch simply plays it off.

"Damn it kid, I don't have time for this." – "You know what? Neither do I. Why don't we call it a truce?" – "Alright, done." They both say before meeting face to face and shaking hands.

Anyone seeing this would likely be completely stunned.

"So who are you anyway?" – "My name is Fefnir. I was once indentured to The Knights, but I'm free now and I have a lot of work to do." – "Work, huh? Like what?" – "Well, only Harpuia and I are freed, but our two friends are still slaves... Micheal more than Phantom." Butch tilts his head and begins to think.

"So... why were you attacking me?" – "Well, I thought you came here to stop Blossom before she heads west." – "Huh? I didn't know she was coming here, we were looking for Olga." – "Olga? Why do you want Olga?" – "We need to know everything she knows about the Powerpuff Girls so we can... you know- kill them."

Fefnir's face grows into a scowl. "I can't let you do that, not yet anyway." – "Why not? Is she important or something?" – "Yes. Blossom and Dexter will stop the coming catastrophe." – "Catastrophe? But Model M was destroyed! What else could there be?" – "Model M is still here, Rowdyruff. I fear that unless we free Phantom and Leviathan, it will be unleashed."

"Whoa, that's some heavy stuff. Any way we can help?" – "Stay out of Blossom's way. And 'we' will handle Dexter, so stay out of his way too." – "So... you want us to do nothing? We are on government business; we aren't ALLOWED to do nothing!" – "Well-" – "You know what? Forget it. I've heard enough. Once I consult this with my brothers and Brisbaine, we will see if we will intervene or not." Butch says before abruptly flying off.

* * *

(Brick)

"You want me to... lure them into a trap...?" – "Is that right, Brisbaine?" – "Yes. At first, it will be to simply get information. But if it goes deeper than that, we can expand upon that into an all out attack." Olga shakes her head.

"But, that's so dirty... even though we aren't even friends anymore, I can't imagine turning on them like that!" – "Would you rather I just kill you now?" – "Man, what the fuck is WRONG with you guys?!" Olga snaps. Brick crosses his arms, her Bio-Simbiote on the bed beside him so that it is no longer equipped to her.

"You killed THOUSANDS of people, Olga. Be happy you are still alive." – "Look at you all high and mighty you damn hypocrite! You want to lure Blossom into a trap so you can kill her! She saved thousands of lives too! If it wasn't for her this entire event would have gone so much worse!" – "Spare me your conjecture. You will do as we say or we will do it ourselves. Your life being optional." Olga's face scrunches up and she looks away.

"I don't have a choice." – "No, you don't. But I thank you for your cooperation. We'll be keeping an eye on you." Brick says, tipping his hat as to say good-bye in almost a polite manner, making Olga sick to her stomach. He leaves the room to be met with Boomer and Butch. They look like they have something to say, surprisingly- given the fact that Brick already found Olga.

"Anything to report?" – "Apparently we can't go after the Powerpuff Girls." Butch lets out, causing a response from Brisbaine on the intercom. "What do you mean, Butch?" – "Boomer and I met with some strange robot guys and they will be looking after Dexter for a while. During that time they told us to not interfere with Blossom in any way." A small pause permeates the field as Brick wears a confused face. Brisbaine speaks up again.

"What would happen if you DID get involved?" – "They said something about another Model M. I'm not sure if he was completely serious, but if there's a possibility of unleashing another one of those things- I say we put this whole thing on hold." Butch lets out, surprisingly against his characteristic bloodlust against the girls.

Brick thinks a small bit before speaking up.

"Well... our plan with Olga should yield us more data. If anything out of the ordinary happens we will put a pause on everything. We can bring them to justice when it doesn't endanger the world." – "I couldn't agree more, Brick." Brisbaine responds, pleased.

"I'm looking forward to your next report. Tomorrow at the same time." Brisbaine fades out and the boys all fly off.

Olga merely sits in the room. "You aren't going to put me back on?" Phantom asks. Olga merely sits some more, silent. "Did you hear any of that?" She says out of the blue. "About the Model M? Yes." – "And they want to trap the Powerpuff Girls... because if something happens to Blossom... Model M would be re-awakened..." – "What are you thinking, Olga?"

She looks up with rage in her eyes.

"I'm thinking that I don't care for their plans. I'm going to awaken Model M, using my OWN brand of trickery! They will regret the day they crossed me!"

"So what now?" Butch says out of nowhere, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, what now? If we can't go after Blossom, the other two are out of town and we can't do anything with Dexter... I mean... we already found Olga. What else is there to do?" Boomer follows with.

"Model M. We search for Model M. The sun is about to go down, we need to find and destroy as much of it as we can." – "Sounds like busywork." Butch replies. "It's the only work we have. Brisbaine will contact us tomorrow; our work for the day is done. I'll search for Model M fragments around town. You two can help or do what you like for the rest of the day." Brick says before flying off.

"Hell... I don't even know what these things look like. I'm going to sleep." Butch says, walking off. "W-Wait, then what do I have to do?" – "Whatever you want, man. The day's over." Butch soon disappears from sight, leaving Boomer next to Olga's chambers.

He walks in, claiming a dark look from Olga as he sits down.

"The hell do you want?!" – "Look, I'm not going to let my brother speak for me- I have nothing against you and if it comes to what he was talking about, I'll see if I can talk him down from his ultimatums." – "Hah, whatever." Olga spits, unamused.

"Run." ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"What?" Olga responds after a few seconds of nothing. "Run away. Get away from here and cover your tracks, or my brothers will kill you, I know them." Boomer says with a straight face. "What...? Why are you telling me this?" – "We are here to get our revenge on the Powerpuff Girls, not kill random people. The way my brothers see it, you are guilty- so they can have government authorized fun with you. I'm not just talking about murder, either."

Her eyes go wide before she tilts her head down. "Not just murder huh? I won't ask for details. Look, I'm strong enough to take care of myself; I don't need a little sidestepping piss ant's help." Boomer doesn't take offense to her harsh words. If it comes to this, Boomer might just let his brothers do it... after all, Olga is guilty. Very guilty. Her death will be seen as a blessing to the populous.

"It's stupid to stay here, girl. Even if you DO betray your friends, who's to say you will live long enough to see the charges against you dropped?" – "My friends? Betray my friends? I don't have any friends anymore." – "Don't be an idiot; you can't get through this alone. You need friends or you will die- alone." Boomer says before standing up and walking towards the curtained crack in the wall that functions as the door.

"If you are going to stay here, you need friends. That's all I'm going to say about this." Boomer walks out of the room. Olga buries her face in her hands.

After a short time, a tear breaks through her hand and hits the floor. Then another... and another.

* * *

(Butch)

Walking around the town, Butch notices that a lot of it has already been rebuilt. "Hah... almost as fast as Townsville." He says to himself, walking down the darkening streets. His attire doesn't draw too much attention. Pants and a jacket, kind of punk, but it suits him.

He walks around before spotting something that catches his eye. A building, one of the only ones for miles with power, a bunch of people with signs outside. On them read several things. "Lost a kid? Check in here!" – "Know a kid who's alone? Bring them here!" – "Need help, Orphanage horribly understaffed!"

Butch's heart drops a small bit and he checks his pockets. He doesn't have any walking around money, but he feels compelled to help them out. He walks up through the crowds and walks inside.

People are handing out bottled water and tending to an internal generator. There are kids as far as you can see, half are asleep. The other portion that is awake are either sitting down or crying.

"You there, have you come to help?" An orphanage tender asks. His eyes are begging Butch to say yes. "Yeah, that's exactly why I'm here." – "Oh, good... we are so understaffed and there are so many children here without parents, come- come this way." Butch follows the man through a maze of sleeping bags and tears to the upper level.

As he goes up the stairs, he notices a lot of the walls are covered in cardboard cup holders and egg cartons. Seems kind of... low tech.

"There are so many babies here that their continuous crying is almost deafening. We tried to soundproof the upper level so the kids downstairs can actually get some sleep. We... are doing what we can, but it's not enough." Butch looks away. The crying is definitely noticeable up here. Through the windowed doors he notices a lot of people cradling and rocking babies, but sleep is hard to achieve with all the crying.

They reach the upper levels and come to a room with several hand powered generators.

"The power for the entire city has gone out- and a lot of faulty wiring around here is hemorrhaging power, so we have to constantly and manually re-supply it every hour. You look like a strong guy, care to help us with this?" – "No problem." Butch says, cracking his knuckles.

He powers two of them at the same time at high speeds, causing faces of awe to cross everyone in the room. The dim lights quickly glow at their highest efficiency in no time.

"Th-Thank you mister...?" – "Butch. Of the Rowdyruff Boys." The man's eyes go wide. "W-Wait... aren't you guys-" – "Criminals? No. That was a long time ago. We went legit and joined the military. We are trying to do whatever we can to help the people of Megaville and get justice on the people who caused this." – "Oh, I see. Thank you so much, Butch. I guess times of harshness bring out the best in everyone..." Butch nods and smiles, still powering two of the generators at once.

* * *

(Brick)

He flips over stones, rocks and rubble... but cannot find anything. It's been over an hour and he feels like he's wasting his time.

"If there are some fragments here... then... where?! I'm at the crash sight for crying out loud." He keeps flipping stuff over until someone catches him off guard. He turns around.

"Olga...?" He says as she too is looking around, with no armor equipped. "Why- you know what? Nevermind. Happy to have the help. I'll search over here." He says, broadening his search.

He keeps looking around, but now his mind is flooded with Olga. He knows that Brisbaine expects him to bring her to justice... but she's still pretty much just a little girl. He shakes his head and keeps his mind on the mission. He knows that she contributed to the death of thousands of people.

After constant searching, he comes across a kind of hole. He uses his enhanced vision to look down as far as he can. He can see a small shard of metal at the bottom of the hole. It's black and Smokey... definitely a shard of Model M.

He looks over to Olga, who is still looking over in her half. He questions what would happen if she knew there was a Model M here, so he simply plugs the hole up with dirt and walks to her.

"There's nothing here. I recommend getting back to where you were before. We will be back by morning." She looks up to him. She doesn't do anything. What is she doing? He furrows his brow.

"Just be there by the time comes- or we WILL find you. Remember that." He says as he flies off.

Olga sighs and walks back.

She makes it back to her den and before she can even relax, she notices someone is coming in.

It's... Dexter?

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Team Rowdyruff was a hoot to right. While the Second War already went in 3 directions, Team Rowdyruff already went in 3 directions. I'm not good at math, but that's like 100 directions! :D But seriously, giving them all an individual section in an already split up story was the closest I could get to feeling like "time travel" without actually using time travel._


	5. Day 1: End

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Day One – End

Blossom finds herself trapped in a pit of some kind. She doesn't know why, but the air here is so thick that she can't fly...

The walls are completely coated in ice. Maniacal laughing can be heard echoing from all directions.

"Micheal?! Why are you doing this?! I'm not even the one who killed you- I mean... I don't want to hang Dexter out to dry or anything- but he kind of IS the guy who did, after all." – "Death? You think this is about death? If anything I should be THANKING Dexter for giving me this life!" A voice twisted of male and female voices echoes through the room.

"I've never felt so powerful... so alive... so in control in my entire life! Micheal is dead, Leviathan is dead- there is only Biosymbiote L! I am nothing less but SO much more! You and your newfound powers... I will enjoy ripping you bit by bit until you are left so powerless that you will be begging for your pathetic life!"

The icy walls grow barbs and begin to grow inward. Slowly but surely, the circular room Blossom finds herself trapped in grows smaller and smaller. Without the power of flight, she cannot possibly hope to escape. She nears the edge of the wall and takes out her saber and slices at it! The ice breaks upon impact but instantly grows back tougher than before!

Blossom runs out of ideas as quick as they come and she makes her way to the center of the room, farthest away from the walls.

"Yes... sit there and die like a good worm. I must say, you didn't put up much of a fight. Maybe Dexter will?" Blossom looks down, not even sure how to react to those words. Does she feel offended that he threatened Dexter's life?

She doesn't know what to feel about Dexter...

"STOP THIS, NOW!" An unfamiliar voice booms out! The air quickly blows with magical wind and before she knows it, the air around Blossom isn't so sickly anymore! She flies out of the pit with ease and views her savior. It's a man with green armor. It looks like Elly's armor.

"Who are-" – "There is no time for formalities, Blossom. We have to destroy Micheal!" – "R-Right!" Blossom responds, not looking a gift horse in the mouth. She turns around, floating in mid air with the green man.

"Harpuia. My name is Harpuia." Blossom nods at his sentiment.

"Ah, Harpuia, my old chum... how's life been? Boring? Come join me in this new existence I've carved out for myself!" – "I'll pass, Leviathan. I've come to free you." – "Free me?! I'VE NEVER FELT SO FREE BEFORE IN MY LIFE!"

The ice in this lair melts as a new person enters the room. A person in orange armor. "The party can start now- Fefnir's in the house!" He yells, slamming his two fists together.

"I see the old gang is almost together again..." Micheal and Leviathan whisper. "But there is someone missing... where is Phantom?" – "He's next. He's in no real trouble with Astro. So enough talking, are you going to come quietly or is our saving grace going to be plagued with violence?" A feminine laughter can be heard echoing around this complex.

"Do you forget where we are, Harpuia...?" – "No. This is the Malevolent Core, where we all forged Malevolence using the souls of the willing." – "Do you have any idea where the Model M fragments are?" – "N-No... why are you asking?" – "Oh... no reason..." Micheal hisses as a dark energy begins to envelop him.

"No! There is a fragment inside you?!" – "FRAGMENT?! It feels like a damn boulder is inside me- AND I'VE NEVER FELT BETTER!" Biosymbiote L yells, dark energy pouring from every extremity and coating the room in dark fog.

The being within the fog grows a giant scythe, so black that it consumes the darkness around it.

"It's time you remembered what Model M is capable of!" L yells, charging at the three! Everyone runs away except Fefnir... who unfortunately cannot fly.

"YEAH THANKS GUYS, I'LL TAKE HIM ALONE, WHATEVER." He yells in a monotones tone, getting ready to endure the impact. His two fists morph into claws and he clamps down on the giant scythe that bears down on him! He can barely keep it from impaling his chest, but Blossom and Harpuia flank L from both sides!

However, two figures rise from the mist. One of ice and one of water, they both look like L, which is to say- an abomination born of biological and mechanical augmentations that vaguely looks like Micheal and Leviathan.

The ice being attacks Harpuia, instantly grounding him and glaciating his weapons, rendering them useless! The water being fires steam towards Blossom, causing the air to thicken around her and make flight impossible! She coughs and fans the steam away, blinded.

Fefnir barely musters enough power to bat the dark scythe away and jump to Harpuia's side! He launches a small ball of fire to him which engulfs Harpuia! L morphs the scythe into two smaller axes and engages Fefnir at melee range!

"You are slower than I remember..." – "And you are more grotesque than I remember!" – "Careful, you shouldn't insult girls with heavy ordinance!" L and Fefnir say, constantly enduring each others' blows.

Harpuia rises from the flames and activates his weapons... but only one will work, the other is still frozen.

"Blossom! I cannot fight this one made of ice, switch targets?" – "Sure!" They put their backs together and spin around! The being of ice attempts to strike at Blossom, but she flares her saber and instantly melts its arms! The being of water attempts to steam Harpuia, but he musters the power of wind and blows it away!

Harpuia puts his power into his single weapon and strikes at the water creature again and again, but it just reforms after every attack! Blossom is having a similar problem, the ice being keeps refreezing back into place!

L kicks Fefnir in the chest onto the ground and stands over him, talking to everyone.

"Poetic, isn't it? Ice, water and steam... all parts of the same whole. Just like I am. Life, death, human, machine, Micheal, Leviathan and Model M! Ice and water know neither life nor death, they cannot be stopped!" L says, kicking Fefnir into the icy pit below and turning around, the weapons once again forming into a scythe. The being of ice crumbles and the being of water floods away.

"Unfortunately, I cannot maintain my peak power with them given life, but it is of no matter. With one strike of my scythe, you will all taste the sweet ambrosia that is death!" L yells, charging Harpuia and Blossom down! Harpuia finally gets his second weapon to work and before anyone realizes what is happening, his armor erupts with a boom of thunder!

The mist is blown away and lightning courses through him! His purple blades strike down as fast as he can, causing an electrified sonic boom to blow L away! L breaks its fall with one hand and coats its body with ice. Dark pupils break through the foggy ice and a toothy grin is apparent even through it as well. The shadow scythe grows in size as it too is caked in frost.

"Blossom, you need to get Fefnir out of there!" – "Okay!" Blossom flies down and picks him up before the pit clamps shut with the bladed ice!

"You think you are safe from the chill of the grave simply because you crawled out of a hole? Not likely..." L whispers, raising an icy claw above, causing the frozen stalactites to fall around them! As they split up to avoid them, L also whips up a swift Blizzard, blinding them to their surroundings!

The howling gale whips around Blossom's ears and is nearly deafening!

'Blossom, look out!' Bell yells, causing Blossom to jump back in recoil! A dark shadow swiftly passes near her belly... the scythe almost killed her! "Th-Thanks Bell! Can you see in this?" – 'Yes and so can you!' – "What?! No I can't!" – 'We don't have time for this! Close your eyes!' – "O-Okay!"

Blossom, scared that the next second could be the one where L cleaves her with that scythe closes her eyes. To her amazement, she can still see! 'I'm giving you my sight!' – "Oh my god...! This is... u-u-unreal!" Blossom stutters. She sees that L is coming down with a vertical slash and she dodges to the side!

The scythe breaks into the ground and shatters the ice around them!

"Blossom, you can see in this?!" Harpuia yells, also blinded. "Yes!" – "Tell us where to go!" – "Okay...!" A large stalactite falls right above Fefnir! "Fefnir, back up!" She yells! He backs up, narrowly avoiding it. Blossom closes her eyes as hard as she can, her body reflexively trying to tell her to open them.

L slowly turns around to face Harpuia before Blossom realizes something.

"Guys! L is slowed down by all of this ice! We can attack it!" – "Good plan, who can attack right now-" – "HARPUIA, DUCK!" Blossom yells, cutting him off. But he dives down, so his HEAD doesn't get cut off by the swinging scythe.

"Fefnir! L's right in front of you, do what you can!" – "Got it!" Fefnir yells, launching a giant fireball and hitting L right in the back! Harpuia can see the fire within the Blizzard and arms his thunder-charged weapons and bolts right for it!

"Harpuia, NO!" Blossom yells as a giant ice claw clamps down on him! He tries with all his might to conjure a storm around himself, but the blizzard is too powerful and the ice is too tough! "Fefnir, finish it with me!" – "Alright!" They both take off at the same time and rush L down! It swings the scythe as hard as it can to Blossom, but she is close enough to grab the frozen pole and hold it in place!

Fefnir climbs on top of L and looks into its eyes.

"See ya!" Fefnir yells, putting all of his burning power into one attack and striking down right against the back of L's head!

"GAHHHHH!" L lets out a deep booming roar as the blizzard completely fades and the frost armor breaks to pieces! L falls to its knees and slumps onto the ground, as does Harpuia.

A small rumbling is felt in the ground and Blossom has a bad feeling about this. She opens her eyes and looks around. "This isn't good...! This place is going to come down!" – "Damn it! There's no way we can get out in time!" They look hysterical as Harpuia slowly rises back to his knees, weak and near death.

"Sacrifice..." He says to himself. "W-What?" Fefnir says, scared that they are all going to die. "Phantom... told Astro... Sacrifice... ultimate power..." He says, gripping his chest, his life force quickly draining away.

"What are you talking about, man?" – "Goodbye... we will never meet again, friend..." – "WHAT?!" Harpuia glows a green color and a huge energy can be felt emanating from him!

"My soul... WILL SET YOU BOTH FREE!" He yells as his entire body loses life and both Blossom and Fefnir are engulfed in a green energy! The roof starts to collapse as they find themselves being shot out of here as fast as light!

They open their eyes to see that they are outside...! They turn around to the factory, but a huge explosion that cracks the ground and causes rockslides tells them all they need to know...

Harpuia is gone...

"N-No... DAMN IT! We couldn't even save Leviathan and now Harpuia is gone too! DAMN IT! GOD DAMN IT!" Fefnir yells, slamming his fists on the ground.

Blossom merely looks up to the moon. She didn't even know his name a couple minutes ago... and he already sacrificed himself to save her life.

"Why...? Why did you guys do this to save me...?" – "You stupid girl... you are important to these wars- we NEED you!" – "Me? I'm important?" – "ARE YOU DEAF TOO?! Harpuia gave his fucking life to save you and I'll be damned in you waste it! You are going to save this world, whether you want to or not!"

Fefnir is hurting bad and Blossom can feel it. She nods. "Okay. What do you want me to do?" – "I want you to leave me alone for now... I'll find you tomorrow... just... leave me alone..." She nods and begins to walk away.

Her eyes keep drawing themselves to the moon. It seems brighter tonight than usual.

Dexter and Olga sit on a bench together and look at the moon.

"Why... do I feel sad...?" Olga says out of the blue, clenching her chest. She is wearing Biosimbiote P again. "It feels like..." She tries to say as a tear falls. "It feels like I lost someone really close to me... my heart... it's... it's hurting!" She says, still clenching her chest.

Dexter holds her close and her eyes shoot open. In that instant... everyone can feel everyone else.

Dexter... Phantom... Olga... Deedee... they all feel the same thing. All four voices let out at the same time...

"Harpuia..." – "Harpuia..." – "Harpuia..." – 'Harpuia...'

They continue to embrace one another as everyone cries collective tears for Harpuia. Their sadness emanates through the area and Olga can feel something familiar...

"Model... M? It's... here, after all? Model M... is crying for Harpuia... too?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** _And this is the end of the first day, where all 3 angles (more or less) meet up. There will be another. The Second War was pretty short, considering, but it had a very long and action packed Epilogue. So bear with me._


	6. Blossom 2: The Road to Self Assurance

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Blossom's Side  
Chapter Two: The Road to Self Assurance

Blossom wakes up in her bed. She's not sure why, but after last night, she kind of wandered in here. She sits up and looks around. The sun is coming up. She looks at herself, still covered in the white armor with black accents. Her hair is still white... she is still wearing Model B.

"What the hell is even going on anymore..." – 'Blossom?' – "Oh, Bell... you're up..." – 'I don't really sleep anymore... I've been up this whole time.' Blossom pauses for a small moment.

"What do you do with all of that time?" She asks, not getting an immediate response. After a long pause, Bell finally responds.

'Being a Chronometal allows me to see through time and space... I've been looking at the future a bit, but mostly the past... my past...' – "Oh... looking upon it... favorably?" – 'Not really... mostly just, remembering what 'used' to make me happy. My daddy and Susan...' Blossom gets off of the bed and realizes she doesn't feel dirty. She slept in a giant suit of bulky armor, but she still feels clean.

"I'm sorry this had to happen to you, Bell..." – 'Don't be. I've been looking over this too; it was my own fault this happened to me. I was blinded by my own sorrow; I wanted Susan back so bad that I put my own life at risk... now here I am.' – "S-Still... I want to express that I know how hard this must be." Blossom says, looking towards the rising sun.

'I have so many regrets... but, being with you isn't one of them, Blossom.' Bell says through the armor, making Blossom almost blush.

"R-Really? Is that right?" – 'It could have been anyone who came to see me in that building that day... people who could have ran off and left me to battle the Model M inside me, or people who would actually do what I said... Kill me... but you, Blossom...' She says, the armor radiating a soft white glow.

'You allowed me to hold on to life just a little longer. You convinced me that even this life is worth living. With this new found existence, I hope I can bury my regrets- maybe I can even say good bye to my daddy... but... I doubt it...' She pauses a small moment. Speaking up again once Blossom rises to her feet.

'Blossom?' – "Yeah?" – 'I'm sorry for what I've done in the past...' Blossom smiles. "It's okay, Bell. I forgive you. Let's go see Fefnir." She says, calmly walking out of the house and opening the door, the morning sunshine and cool breeze wafting over her.

She decides to walk to the Mountain, not fly. She could use the time to think.

"Maybe once all of this is over, we can find a way to set you free. Maybe allow you to go home again." – 'Is... that so?' – "Yeah. No-one should be forced to live without their parents. I swear to you, Bell. Before this is over, I will set you free!" – 'Don't make promises you can't keep...' Bell says sadly.

"No, Bell. I promise. My reputation as a superhero, on my sisters' life, on my own life- I swear to you, I will pay you back for this." – 'Th-Thanks Blossom...'

Before they know it, they are at the dusty mountain and they can hear someone next to the ruin. They run up and it's none other than Fefnir tending to a kind of headstone.

"Fefnir...?" – "Blossom." He says. He finishes carving one last thing into it and gets up.

"He was a good man, you know. He never trusted humans before, but along the lines, he met with those who did, certain individuals who made him appreciate all forms of life. He gave his life for you. Maybe it was out of emotion, maybe it was out of logic, but remember that he did it to save you. Never forget that."

Blossom shakes her head. "I won't, I promise." – "Good..." He says, wiping his eyes clean. He turns over.

"I'm not sure if you realized it or not, but Dexter has been avoiding you. He told Harpuia that your involvement in this war could damn us all?" – "What?! Why would he do that?" – "I don't know. He didn't give me the details; we just bolted here as fast as possible after we heard you were in trouble. I'm glad we got here in time... but if Dexter came to help, Harpuia could still be alive..." Blossom looks away and clenches her fists.

"I'm not sure what to think of Dexter anymore. What is his problem?" – "I don't know, but it's time that you shined, Blossom. No hiding. Hiding is what got Harpuia killed. Never again! This world needs you even if Dexter doesn't think so!" He nears Blossom and puts his hand to her chest.

"Wh-What are you doing...?" Blossom lets out, uncomfortable.

"There is a Model M inside you. I felt it, Harpuia felt it and even L felt it. There is a deep darkness inside you. I think you were the final piece to L's puzzle which allowed him to reach full power." – "But... this Model M is purified! It shouldn't do those kinds of things..." – "There is no such thing as a pure Model M, Blossom. That's what everyone here has to learn! Before this is over, your armor must be destroyed, or it will unleash even more Model Ms upon the world!"

Blossom looks away. She can feel Bell's sadness. 'It's okay Blossom... I knew I would never see my daddy again anyway. I'll be happy to help you save the world, even if one of the steps to saving it is destroying me.'

Blossom's eyes go wide.

"NO!" She yells! "I will NEVER destroy Model B! I won't let Bell down! She will see her father again, no matter what! I am not killing anyone to save this world! EVER! Bell is still a person and I will not destroy her! You got that?!" She barks at Fefnir, who stands there speechless.

"Stupid emotions..." He says, looking back over to the headstone. "Why did it have to be you of all people, Blossom? Why can't you be the real hero type?" – "REAL Hero type?!" – "The kind that would sacrifice anything, anything, anyone to save the world." He says looking back Blossom.

"Harpuia even sacrificed himself to save you, but it seems you don't have the stomach to save this world." – "WHAT DID YOU SAY?! Since when does saving the lives of innocent people make you weak?!" – "Since their lives endanger the lives of everyone else! That Model M is corrupt, whether you think so or not! No matter how hard we fight, Model M will live on so long as that armor of yours does! You keeping that armor on might as well be spitting on his grave..."

"You're wrong!" She yells. "I will cherish Harpuia's memory by saying that there will be no more senseless killing! I won't let anyone else die! This war will end and you will see that even this Model M deserves to live!" Her armor glows a bright white, but she doesn't falter. She continues to look Fefnir in the eyes.

"Harpuia gave his life to save me, all of me, who I was- now here I am! I am the person he died to save. I am not changing! If you want me to save this world, let me do it my way, the way Harpuia wanted!" Fefnir recoils. His face shows great anger, but he finally relents and sighs.

"You know what, Blossom?" – "What...?" – "You're not half bad..." He says with a small smirk. He turns away from her and walks away. "Wait, where are you going?" – "There isn't anything going on yet. We play the waiting game, now. If Model M is still out there, if the horrible future that has been foretold is out there... it will show itself." He says, disappearing into the dust of the mountain.

"Fefnir..." – 'Fefnir...' They both say in unison.

Blossom walks over to the headstone and reads it.

"Here lies Harpuia.

He was a great guy. He used to hate humans, but he gave his life to save one.

Let it never be said that he wanted this to happen, but let it never be said that he was afraid to stand in opposition of it when its ugly head reared around the corner.

He will never be forgotten, his enemies will never be forgiven... Model M.

Rest in peace my friend, my brother, Harpuia."

Blossom remains at the mountain. She remains at the ruin. She remains at the grave. She's been thinking.

So many people have died. Most if not all of the children of the city are still alive... and that's good, but hundreds of people were killed. Why? She keeps asking herself. Why?

"Why?" She says out loud. "Why did they do this? They were preaching about being good guys, weren't they? What kind of good guys would do this? I mean... Elly and Drax came back at the end and helped Dexter... but that was after they unleashed hell on the city and killed everyone in it!" She shakes her head, not making heads or tails of anything.

'I don't know, Blossom...' – "Maybe... Fefnir knows. He was there, he helped Micheal do all of these horrible things. I have to know why." She says, standing up and rubbing the dirt off of her armor. She looks up; the sun is almost at the highest point in the sky. The dusty wind has died down and Blossom soon realizes she has no idea where Fefnir even is.

"Bell; do you know where he is?" – 'I could try to find him...' She says before a big pause envelopes the conversation.

'B-BLOSSOM...!' – "What?!" – "FEFNIR'S IN DANGER!" She yells, tugging the back of Blossom's mind to guide her in the direction she needs to go! Without even thinking, Blossom takes off and flies as fast as she can to the area she needs to be!

She flies over the city and feels something strange. Like there is a physical darkness beginning to envelope it... she does not know why. The clouds are already turning orange as if it were a sunset, but the sun isn't anywhere near that point, yet.

She lands next to a forest- and it's on fire! She begins to run in before someone catches her eye. She knows this person...!

"OLGA!" Blossom yells running to her as she's collapsed on the ground. She shakes her awake and Olga looks into Blossom's eyes. Before Blossom has a chance to say anything, Olga speaks up.

"The woods... Dexter... help..." She says before passing out. Blossom looks into the ever burning forest as more and more fires start. She flies Olga away from the fires and puts her on the park bench before flying into the forest.

She dodges fires over and over, nearly blinding her... before she stops... Bell knows what she's thinking.

Blossom closes her eyes... and soon enough, she can see everything clearly!

She goes at top speed, avoiding everything and anything in her path with expert accuracy! She enters the center of the woods and comes into contact with what's making this fire!

It's Dexter... and Fefnir... fighting!

"Dexter, what are you doing?!" Blossom yells, forcing a reaction from Dexter. He looks over to her, but before he can speak Fefnir lands a keen punch on Dexter, knocking him out instantly.

Blossom looks up to Fefnir... there is something different about him. Something... very different. He looks like Drax, mixed WITH Fefnir... just like L was Micheal and Leviathan...

"F-Fefnir...?" She says timidly. He looks over to her. The entire forest is bathed in flame and all Fefnir can do is smile. "What... happened to you?" – "I was a fool to resist L... this power... this life; it truly is the next step!" – "No! You can't be serious?! What about Harpuia?! He died to save us from this!"

Fefnir holds his stomach and laughs loudly, over and over again!

He wipes a comedy born tear from his eye and looks Blossom in hers.

"Oh, you will see that he has embraced it as well." – "N-No!" Fefnir jumps into the flames and disappears from sight. All that's left is a forest on fire and Dexter within the inferno. She picks him up and flies out.

She flies to where she left Olga, who is now semi-conscious. As soon as she puts Dexter down, she returns to the forest.

She takes a deep breath and blows cool air all over the burning trees, instantly frosting them to normal. She flies around the entire forest, putting fire after fire out... and after several hours, she's finally done. The black smoke still rises from the trees that were still burned down, but the worst has been avoided.

She flies over to where she left Olga and Dexter... but neither are there! She looks around, but there is no sign of them... but there is a note. It's in Dexter's Handwriting.

"Get out of here, Blossom. We don't need you."

"What the hell is this?!" Blossom yells. "Did Dexter write this? I just saved his life!" She crumples the note and looks around, enraged. "What the hell is wrong with him...?!" She fumes and considers chasing him down... but something happens. She looks into the sky... and it's even redder than before.

The darkness that was choking the city is growing ever deeper. "This feeling... it feels like Model M... but we destroyed it, right?" – 'W-Well...' Bell timidly responds.

"Well what?" – 'There... was still SOME remaining... but now...' – "But now what? Tell me!" – 'Something happened... and it seems to be fully grown again. But not just that- it's still growing!' – "What?! Why didn't you tell me?!" – 'It didn't seem like a big deal at the time. The Model M was sleeping... but something woke it up and it's been growing faster than ever before! I'm sorry I didn't tell you before.'

Blossom looks around the city. The people have started abandoning it... as they should.

She flies down to the people and strikes up some conversations.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" She asks random passersby. "No, but I'm getting out before something happens again. Forget this city; it's time to abandon it." – "Yeah, what he said!" People move out of the city in droves. The people have had it; there is no point to repair or protect such a doomed city anymore.

Blossom completely understands, but she is filled with so many conflicting emotions right now. She looks over to the inner city and there are still people rebuilding. Not everyone is leaving... not everyone has a place to go.

This darkness worries her and she finds herself compelled to go to the orphanage. She flies over as fast as she can and lands in front of it... and her worst fears have come true.

People are even abandoning the orphanage...!

She goes to enter the building as a man comes out of it. Blossom stops in her tracks and looks him in his green eyes. He looks so familiar... The man's eyes go wide and he runs away very fast. His green clothing also sends Blossom a signal, but she can't get a good read on who he was supposed to be. She shakes her head and continues in.

More and more people are packing up and leaving, conversations are being struck up by the people who are leaving.

"Look, I'm sorry- but I can't stay here, I have my own family to look after. Please take all my bottled water and... these toys I found. It's all I can do..." – "No, I understand... be safe." The Orphanage caretaker says sadly. The man leaves the building leaving Blossom with the caretaker.

"Oh, it's you! Blossom! Your timing couldn't be better!" He yells happily. She nods and realizes this is the most important place she can be right now.

If something horrible starts up, she needs to be here to defend as many people as possible. She wonders to herself...

"When is this ever going to end?"

She doesn't care about Dexter anymore or whatever his problem is. She doesn't care about petty villains anymore. She knows what she is. She is Blossom. She is a protector of the people. She will stay here. She will protect these people, no matter what.

Blossom has spent over an hour in this orphanage now. She has sufficiently charged the generators on the upper level, distributed water to the kids, rocked several babies to sleep... but everyone is getting restless... including Blossom.

The sky is starting to burn. What looked like an early sunset is turning into a bleeding horizon. The clouds are turning brown and sickly... Blossom does not know what is causing this.

The air is acrid and reeks of impending death, she can smell Model M on the wind, but the people can't... but even they have that gut feeling.

Out of the blue, the caretaker shows up behind Blossom. She turns around and notices he is wearing a pained face.

"Blossom... I know what you feel; a lot of the adults have reported feeling it as well... I know you think we should run, I do too... but we can't. We can't move all of the kids at once, especially the infants. We have no choice... we have to stay, Blossom." – "I know... I'll stay with you guys, I promise." She says, looking out the window.

"I haven't felt anything ominous out there in a while... I don't know why. It looks so evil out there, but it's lying still for now..." – "Blossom..." The caretaker says, causing Blossom to look back again.

"You know who you are... I know who you are, we all know." Blossom seems confused, before he smiles and continues.

"Blossom, you are a hero, not a security guard. Your place is out there, not here..." – "But, I..." She pauses. She knows he's right, Blossom is far more useful on the battlefield, but she knows that she can't abandon them. She closes her eyes and goes deep into thought, but he won't let her. He puts his hands on her shoulders causing her eyes to open.

"Blossom... you know what you have to do. Your destiny is out there. Your place is at Dexter's side... he will remember... I'm sure he needs help now more than ever. Please, we'll be fine, you have to go." Blossom gently pries his hands off her shoulders and sighs.

She walks down the hall and nears the front door. But before she leaves, she turns her head back with a serious face.

"At the first sign of trouble, signal me. Okay?" He merely nods and smiles. "Goodbye Blossom... and good luck!"

She steps outside and is engulfed in a darker energy than she thought before. Even the ground is starting to crawl with dark mist, just like with the Model M fragment Dexter brought back from the First War. This entire city seems to be corrupted by Model M, but Blossom can't even see what's causing it.

She flies around the city, trying to find what's causing this before something catches her eye. It seems to be a green ball of swirling energy next to the mountain ruin.

'Blossom...' Bell chimes in. 'You know what's down there, don't you?' Blossom merely gulps. She knows the possibility, but she knows what she must do.

'I'm with you...!' Bell lets out words of encouragement, as if they were going into their final battle...

Blossom lands next to the viridian orb of unstable energy and approaches it. The wind inside swirls faster than she thought physically impossible... it's as if a small galaxy were inside!

Two black eyes peer through the orb...

The orb explodes, but does not cause wind or recoil, instead all energy floods into the being the orb was around. A tall feminine looking man towers over Blossom. Green bladed armor and small wings. Bigger than L, that's for sure. She can tell from the features that it is essentially the same thing as L though...

"Harpuia and Elly..." She says, drawing her saber.

"Blossom... how nice of you to come..." Twisted voices of Harpuia and Elly let out. They draw their two purple blades as usual, but a Thunderlance also dances around them, controlled by the winds.

H has three weapons!

"We don't have to fight!" Blossom yells. "That is where you are wrong! Everything has been building up to this moment... the true Model M's awakening is at hand... all it needs is a few more surges of emotion and it will TRULY awaken! So come, Blossom... give me your best shot! Live or die, you have already lost!" H yells launching its thunder lance at Blossom!

She blocks it with her weapon and reflects it back, but H catches it in a whirlwind and returns it to his arsenal. "Is that all you got?" It yells as he instantly appears behind Blossom in a thunderbolt! H jabs its two purple blades to impale Blossom, but she jumps above him and strikes down onto his head!

However, the strike only causes him to disperse into an electrical storm that Blossom gets caught in! She struggles to stand up; her armor is beginning to lock up! She grits her teeth and looks outside the storm. H's black eyes glare through the storm, so dark even the shadows around them grow dimmer.

"It's over, Blossom. YOU'VE LOST!" It yells as it conjures a gigantic thunder lance the likes of which she has never seen before! It towers several stories high and it spears down on her! There is no possible way she could run from this...!

'Blossom... Harpuia gave you his blessing... use it!' Bell yells through the armor!

Blossom has no idea what she's talking about but she yells the first thing that comes to mind-

"WINDBURST!" She yells, engulfing the entire mountain in an explosion of wind, blowing even the giant lance away! H stands in awe of the attack. Blossom has completely blown away even the electric storm.

She pants and gasps, the storm having taken a lot from her, but she's finally able to stand again.

"Har... pui... ya...!" She pants as she extends her hands to her sides, electricity building in them! H relents, the power of the attack is apparent even before she launches it.

"YOU... ARE NOT... HARPUIA!" She yells as she unleashes all of her energy into a condensed attack on H! Her natural red energy combining with the electricity to form a red laser that completely obliterates H's armor!

"GAHHH!" It yells, blood and armor fragments spilling to the ground... H has been knocked down and out in a single hit! She gasps and pants, taking a knee as H's body hits the ground and spasms.

But, the last thing she expected to hear happens... it's laughing... Elly and Harpuia are laughing through coughs of blood.

The ground begins to rumble...! "Wh-What's going on?!" – "HAHA... HA... HA*Cough*AAA... AHAHA... HA!" Blood pours from his mouth and his wound and his eyes begin to close.

"Not only have I fallen... we have all fallen... it's over... you're doomed... Your world... shall... end..." He says as his eyes close forever and his energy burns away into a strange looking shell. A green armor that casually begins to float over to Megaville.

But the ground begins to rumble more and more! It feels like an earthquake! But then Blossom sees something. Something black just fired out of the ground... then another...

And another!

Giant black crystals are flying out of the ground and forming above Megaville!

"Oh my god...!" Blossom says as it begins to grow ever more massive! Wind begins to whip up and the red sky and sickly clouds begin to spin around this giant meteor looking thing.

More and more crystals fly out of the ground and coat the sky with a darkening mist.

Blossom clenches her hands and they begin to tremble...

"This will never end, will it...?" She says, before flying off to the meteor.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Day two opens up with a bang. The Second War escalates incredibly fast, and everyone gets their crap pushed in once or twice, all leading to the final ending. We know the fate, and the hour, but not the gruesome visage. Are you excited for the apocalypse?_


	7. Dexter 2: Abandonment

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Dexter's Side  
Chapter Two: Abandonment

Last night filled Dexter with so many conflicting emotions. He loves Blossom, but he remembers how he has felt for Olga after all this time. He turns his head over to look at her, asleep.

Last night they both walked back to the ruin... Dexter hasn't been to sleep yet... and if the rising sun is any indication, he won't get any today either.

Harpuia is dead. Dexter, Olga, Deedee and even Phantom felt it and shared a moment of sorrow and silence for their fallen friend. He was a warrior, so it was inevitable that he would die young... but they had just met. Dexter's soul is getting heavy, this war is starting to affect him in ways he wish it wouldn't... it's making him jaded to death and despair.

'Dexter?' – "Oh, Deedee... y-you scared me..." Dexter says, having been sitting in this dimly lit room from sundown to sunup without as much as a word being exchanged between anyone.

'Blossom is getting more and more involved in this event... if you are going to stop her, now is the time, before it's too late...' Deedee says, to Dexter's surprise. "So you... approve of me abandoning her?" – 'What I think doesn't really matter anymore. There aren't any options left. If Mandark is right- then we have to stop her soon.' Dexter sighs.

He gets up and walks over to the cloth door, but he looks back to Olga sleeping in her makeshift bed. He is thinking very hurtful thoughts to himself and Deedee picks up on it.

'You don't think she's being sincere...?' – "She's spent so much time fighting to get Mandark back... I didn't think she would give up on her dream this easily..." – 'You don't trust her?' He sighs and walks out of the door. "No. I don't. She's my friend and I love her... but she has done so much evil already... how CAN I trust her?" Deedee doesn't respond. Dexter shakes his head and begins to fly off slowly.

"Even if she can be trusted to never do it again, who's to say that what she's already done wasn't enough? What if the ramifications of her past actions will still cause more death and destruction?" Dexter says, looking to the near future. 'Dexter...' Deedee mopes, catching his ear. "Deedee? What's wrong?"

'It hurts to see you so mistrusting of people, so jaded... so... disconnected.' – "W-What?" – 'These wars are doing terrible things to you... once this is over... you should stop.' – "Stop...? What...?" – 'You are a good person, brother... but I don't want you to sacrifice who you are to save this world! Too many people have done that already!' – "I don't know what you're talking about...!" Deedee sighs.

'Just... promise me you won't do anything you will regret...' Dexter looks over to the morning horizon.

"I already regret so much... making Blossom leave- making her hate me will be another. Thanks for your worry, but it's not required. I'm fine; I'm used to living life one disappointment and regret at a time. I've just been really good at hiding it... even from you."

Dexter sighs and lands on the ground to get some fresh air and thinking time. He enters the Megaville forest and simply walks around, left only to his thoughts. The sunlight being filtered through the leaves give this place a very peaceful feeling.

This place is usually crawling with people, picnickers, hikers, kids- everyone. But there isn't a single person. Megaville is a seemingly dead city now. He does see one person in these woods though. It seems to be a young man with blonde hair dressed in bluish clothing. He's messing around with a small crater, the one where the Model M crystal was once.

Model M is something evil and dangerous... Dexter thinks as to what his intentions could be, be it idle curiosity... or something deeper.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Dexter asks directly. The young man responds, but doesn't look at Dexter.

"Researching something, now go away please." – "You aren't researching... M... are you?" Dexter asks, claiming a response from him this time. He freezes in place for a small moment before looking back. At first he almost seems shocked to see who Dexter was, but he rises to his feet and reclaims a calm demeanor.

"I'm... with the military. I'm researching what happened here. Model M, Chronometals, Biosymbiotes... those kinds of things." – "Well if you even know their names you seem to already be well informed on the subject." Dexter says with a hint of mistrust in his voice which the man immediately picks up, straightening up his clothing.

"I assure you, we are on the same side here. We are working with the government to find out who did this, how and why." – "If you are indeed so well informed and working with the government... you should know who I am." – "Of course... you're Dexter." – "What gave me away, my giant suit of armor or my long locks of blonde hair?" Dexter asks, incredibly suspicious. The man doesn't catch onto what he's implying at first, but then he does and he turns his face around and begins to think.

"You knew me from a glance, but I don't even look half like this normally! I never wear suits of armor- my hair is actually red... I'm not even wearing Glasses! WHO ARE YOU?!" Dexter yells, going into a battle stance.

"What's the big idea? Who cares how I know who you are? Does it matter?" – "Not a single government agent has even seen me since all of this started... they have been avoiding this city like the plague! Not even a single one has entered the city in the past week! Yet here you are the first one I've seen since this all began and you already know who I am and what I look like? I'm not fucking buying it, tell me who you are or you're going down!"

The man looks down, seemingly sad at first, but he begins to laugh a small bit.

"Not bad, Dexter, you're as smart as they say, 'Boy Genius.' Maybe I can formally introduce myself." He says, looking back up.

"I am Boomer, of the Rowdyruff Boys, but I was not lying before- we ARE government agents and we ARE looking over what happened here... but that's not all. We are so well informed because we came here on reconnaissance... avoiding detection and gathering as much information as fast as possible as informally as possible." His face shows a more serious look now.

"But that was for one purpose. We are also here to kill those responsible. All of them. We are a kill-squad, Dexter." Dexter's face scrunches up. "Kill squad... Do you know who caused this yet?" – "The Knights. All of them are dead save Olga, who we are working with." – "W-Working with?!" Dexter spits out, confusing Boomer.

"What's wrong? Was it something I said?" – "Just how are you working with her, TELL ME?!" Boomer takes on a more hostile stance now.

"She's guilty of killing hundreds, thousands of innocent people. I gave her a chance to run but she has chosen to stay. We gave her a deal- and if she follows through with it, prison seems like a better alternative to death, yes?" – "Why you...!" – "What is this? Do you care for this mass murderer? Enough to get in the way of hand-picked government assassins?" – "You aren't fucking touching Olga- and that's the end of that!" Dexter yells, imposing over Boomer.

"You are in no position to tell us what to do, Dexter. Besides, I think it's in your best interest to get Blossom out of these wars, not fight with us." – "How did you-" – "We know a lot, Dexter. But I didn't lie about us being on the same side. Think about what I've said. Olga is guilty... you know it to be true." Boomer says before flying away. At this point, Dexter isn't even surprised that guy can fly.

Dexter has half a mind to chase him down and force feed him his D-Saber, but resists the urge. He merely stands there in the forest, fists clenched.

"Olga... Blossom..."

Dexter stands there in the forest, utterly at a loss as to what to do. He notices the air seems a little thicker than normal. He looks up only to notice the sky is showing signs of a sunset... which he finds odd. The sun is still high in the sky...

He turns around and begins to walk away from this Model M born crater before he feels something weird. Something familiar... but it's dark now. Like what he is feeling is the very embodiment of a disappointment.

"I don't know who you are or what you've done... but if you don't leave, you're dead." – "Funny... you think you can take me on." A familiar twist of voices lets out.

Dexter turns around and furrows his brow.

"F..." He says under his breath.

A being, very tall and clad in reddish orange armor stands over Dexter, casting a long shadow. His fists are inside giant claws that vaguely resemble magnetic clamps. His face twists into a toothy grin. His teeth grind together and cause a small spark to fly off to somewhere far away. His face has red dreadlocks spilling over it like Drax, but his eyes show a distinct lack of humanity.

"What happened to you...?" – "L. H. They showed me the way. They were stronger than me, faster than me- now here I am. My destiny and yours are linked. At least make it fun in your final hours, Dexter." His twisted voices let out.

Before Dexter realizes it, the forest is already on fire! Did that small insignificant spark cause this...?!

F walks over to Dexter and spreads his arms out in an inviting gesture.

"Oh, come now. Blossom will be dead shortly- as will those assassins, the Rowdyruffs. Don't fight it; all will know only darkness in the end. Do yourself a solid and get out while the getting's good." – "Get real." Dexter spits, drawing his saber.

However... right as he draws his weapon, Olga shows up on the outskirts of the battle.

"O-Olga?! GET OUT OF HERE!" Dexter yells! "Too late!" F roars, charging her down. Dexter musters all his strength and speed to intercept and hold off F, but it's not enough!

"Get out of here- now!" – "I'm not helpless Dexter, let me-" She tries to say as a gout of flame spits from the inferno and blankets her in fire! "NO!" – "She had her chance to run... and so did YOU!" F yells, picking Dexter up and slamming him to the ground, causing a small crater to form where he was dropped. F slams his boot down towards Dexter's head, but he holds it with both hands and manages to overpower his stance and cause him to fall backwards!

Dexter rushes to his feet and runs over to Olga. She is unconscious from the flames. He picks her up and runs through the forest.

"Oh sure, run away. Just know that once this entire forest is lit in flames, I will absorb the heat and kill you anyway! Run away little man, RUN AWAY!" He taunts as Dexter runs as fast as he can out of the burning woods. He reaches the outskirts and thinks about the possibility of an even stronger F.

He reluctantly puts Olga on the ground outside of the woods and makes sure she is fine.

"She is fine... Go!" Phantom yells from the armor. "R-Right!" Dexter runs back into the forest. It's catching more on fire by the second. This kind of fire cannot be natural...

He runs back in and sees F floating just above the ground, absorbing flames into his body. His armor is already a searing red, but his eyes are growing black...

Dexter draws his sword yet again, but F isn't paying him any mind.

"What are you waiting for?!" Dexter yells.

"We aren't alone..." F whispers. "WHO GIVES A DAMN?!" Dexter yells, charging F down.

He parries each attack expertly and Dexter is suddenly feeling like this was a really bad idea.

"Not yet..." F whispers... "The show has yet to begin..."

"Dexter, what are you doing?!" Blossom yells, forcing a reaction from Dexter. He looks over to her, but before he can speak Fefnir lands a keen punch on Dexter, knocking him out instantly.

What feels like hours pass and Dexter wakes up with a pounding head. He shakes his head and notices that the fires in the forest are being put out by Blossom. He looks to his left to see that Olga is on the bench with him. She is coughing up smoke... but she seems alright.

Dexter thinks on the situation and he can't help but wear an angry face. Olga notices that Dexter is up and attempts to talk to him- but he speaks first.

"Blossom... she saved my life. What if I was meant to die...? What if what she's doing now is what he told me to prevent..." – "What? Who?" – "Olga. We need to leave. We need to get Blossom out of these wars." – "I... uh..." – "Do you have anything to write on?" – "W-Well..."

'Here.' Deedee says as a piece of paper fizzles into appearance in a crackle of light. At first Dexter seems astonished, but he merely chuckles and shakes his head. "Convenient..." He says under his breath.

He takes a pen out of his pocket and writes something down.

Short.

Sweet.

To the point.

"Get out of here Blossom. We don't need you." He throws the paper onto the bench in a huff.

"Do you really think that will work...?" Olga asks. Dexter is sure it won't, but he needs to get his point across. If Blossom was mad before, this may tip her over the edge.

By next they meet, Dexter will apply the final blow... should it come to that.

"It's fine. Let's go, we have no time to waste. F could be anywhere!" Dexter grabs Olga by the hand and runs across the town before breaking into flight and flying back to the ruins of Mandark's Lab. A base of sorts if nothing else.

Before Dexter walks in, he notices the sky is starting to burn red.

"What the hell is going on...? How long has it been this red?" – "It started getting redder after you woke up..." – "Well... I feel better now." He looks up, noticing the sky's coloration isn't getting any deeper at the moment. Odd.

Dexter walks into Olga's base, but pauses. He notices that Olga isn't following him in. "Olga...? Are you coming?"

"Olga?" Dexter asks, before leaving the room. As he steps out, his eyes go wide.

It's Boomer and two other men, one with red accents and one with green accents!

"I fucking knew it...!" The red one speaks up. He points to Dexter as if in judgment.

"Dexter! You are a danger to this world. Surrender or die!"

Dexter stands utterly confused just outside of Olga's base.

Three men, the Rowdyruff boys, a government sanctioned hit-squad are staring him down and calling for his surrender or a fight.

"I don't know what you are talking about, GUY, but I'm not a danger to anyone! After all, aren't we on the same side?" Dexter says, going into a battle stance, drawing his weapon.

"The side that wishes to save the world. Yes, well, several hours ago we WERE on the same side." Boomer says and continues. "That was before we realized what you were doing. Now we are here to cut you down and prevent it!" – "What the hell are you talking about?!" Dexter yells, enraged.

The wind around them begins to grow thick again and the skies begin to spin around them.

"Brick, it's happening again!" The green one says to the red one. "Enough of this! Dexter! Are you aware of what you are doing? Are you aware that these events are being directly caused by you?" – "What?! No, wait, what?!" Dexter lets out, confused.

'Dexter...?! Are you okay?' Deedee asks through his armor, but he grabs his head as a flood of dark feelings enters him. His eyes squint shut through the pain as the ground begins to rumble. Brick growls and walks over to Olga and grabs her by her chest armor and holds her up!

"We know you are doing this...! STOP IT!" He lets out. Olga merely dangles there with a smug smile across her face.

"There's nothing you can do about it." She says simply.

"W-What are you guys... t-talking about...!" Dexter says, his head hurting more and more before the pain forces him to his knees. Emotion throbs through his being and he is chained to the ground by pain and fear!

"WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!" He roars out, scratching the pavement!

A deep surge of energy is felt nearby...

Two beings, one blue and one red crash into this battle and before he knows it, Dexter snaps out of this stupor... as if a switch was just turned off in his body! He looks over to the red being-

"F!" He yells out, rising to his feet, his teeth showing sharply!

"Micheal!" Brick yells out, looking at the blue being here. The being he just spoke to flips his hair and looks down on him.

"We aren't here for you, boys. Run along and let us kill Dexter, now." – "Yeah right! What are the chances that you would all show up here when Dexter was at his weakest? This was a damn setup- and you are going to tell us everything!" Brick and the other two boys charge the blue being down and quickly disappear from sight.

Olga slowly walks away from Dexter and F. "OLGA?! Where are you going?!" – "If you survive, follow me." She says cryptically before disappearing into a stray fog. Dexter growls and turns his head back over to F.

The ground rumbles and the sky burns. The air is hard to breathe and the being in front of him is more powerful than ever...!

"The stage has been set; the actors have had time to rehearse! The final act is about to begin!" F yells out, turning his claws into double bladed swords dripping with liquid flame! Fire spins around them and F breaks into a small smile.

"I believe we were at- this part!" F yells as he charges Dexter down who musters all of his energy to simply not get hit! He dodges near the wall of spinning fire and is flashed away by the fire! He crawls off of the ground and back to his feet.

"Is that all you got? I want to at least have some fun!" – "Don't screw with me!" Dexter growls. "If I didn't, you would already be dead! We just need a LITTLE more emotion from you; Dexter... then all we need is your broken body to finish our plan!" – "JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!" Dexter yells, pulling out his D-Rifle and shooting lightning rounds off at F!

They travel at the speed of light and hit with the power of a thunderbolt, but F seems completely unaffected! The deep fires spinning around them burn endlessly and close in on Dexter! He is forced to move dangerously close to F who doesn't even move.

Dexter's rage builds to uncontrollable levels! He is tired of being messed with and being underestimated!

"F... you are going to wish you killed me!" – "There it is! There's that anger we've been looking for!" F laughs as the ground begins to rumble more and more!

Dexter throws his gun to the ground and holds his two hands in front of him in a ball shape. F seems a little confused but simply shrugs it off.

"What is that, huh? Your 'secret attack?' Well give me all you got- I'm fucking immortal!" – "No-one is immortal...!" – "Touched by Model M? Yeah, I'm immortal, kid." – "Model M... Biosimbiotes... all powered by the same thing..." Dexter says as a white energy builds in his hands.

"Oh yeah? And I take it you know what that is?" – "I know what it isn't..." He says as he raises his rage filled eyes to meet with F's.

"It isn't something that CAN CONTROL ME! PRISMATIC FLASH!" He yells as a white energy explodes outward and engulfs F and the firestorm! He raises his arms to block the attack, but puts them down after a while. The firestorm is gone but F is completely fine!

"HA! Your stupid attack didn't do anything! You lose, little man!" He taunts, before noticing Dexter is walking over to him. "What the hell is this? You got a death wish?" Dexter does not respond. He draws his saber and continues to walk towards F with death in his eyes.

"Hatred... Fear... Love... all parts of the same whole. All parts of what make me human and what makes Model M catastrophic..." – "What are you getting at?" – "When the emotions are combined, it is like the color spectrum. If you have too much rage all you can see is red... but when all of your emotions are balanced- you see white." F raises an eyebrow.

Dexter is almost to melee range of F and F can do nothing but laugh. "Okay, if you have it all figured out- you have the first attack. Go on, I won't even block." – "Bad idea. Block." – "No, I insist." – "Make it worth my while." Dexter says with a smug smile. "Ha, alright... I'll put up ONE arm. See if you can break through that."

Dexter fiddles with his sword as even it begins to glow a white color.

"You know... I've been curious for a while now. Why you didn't kill me in the woods... why the sky was burning... why the ground is rumbling..." – "Get on with it!" – "And what the Rowdyruffs told me... it all makes sense now... you are using me. Using my emotions. They are giving you all strength." – "SHUT UP AND HIT ME!"

Dexter casually raises his sword above him to strike down, but not without speaking a few more words.

"But I won't let you use me any longer. NOT ANYMORE!" He yells and slices down with his sword. F laughs and barely puts any effort into blocking, being so sure of himself.

Dexter's sword strikes down so hard that it rips savagely through his arm and gets into and gets stuck in F's chest cavity!

"GAHHHHH?! WHAT THE FUCK?!" He yells, his hand falling to the ground and a beam saber stuck in his body! Dexter merely looks into his fear filled eyes.

"My emotions are mine. Not yours... and so are the flames." – "N-No!" – "Goodbye."

Dexter ignites his saber and twists it inside of F causing a flash-firestorm! His body is instantly engulfed and his broken and burnt body falls to the ground with a lifeless thump. Dexter sighs and turns around to view the city. What he sees doesn't even surprise him at this point.

Crystals are forming above the city and becoming a massive meteor-like creation. F's burnt body forms into an orange shell that casually floats off to the giant meteor.

Dexter lets it pass and he walks towards the city.

"My emotion caused this... but who caused my emotion to cause this? Was it... Olga, like that guy said? Regardless, it was too late for me to do anything worth-while." He says looking at the meteor. "Far too late..." He walks off again, thinking about what Olga said.

"I survived, Olga. Now I'm going to find you... and you are going to tell me everything you know!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _If the chapter's name wasn't akin enough to Blossom, it was also akin to Olga. Dexter abandons Blossom, Olga abandons Dexter. Everyone's being used, to some degree, but where do the puppet's strings come from? Dexter? Olga? Mandark? Who knows._


	8. Rowdyruff 2: Answers

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Team Rowdyruff's Side  
Chapter Two: Answers

The sun rises and all three of the boys have found themselves without sleep for one reason or another.

Brick bounces a ball against a wall over and over. Not so much in thought as he is passing time. He is in the middle of the city, with a strange look on his face as he continues to bounce this ball. He knows something bad is about to happen.

There are Model Ms buried all around the city. They seem to be dormant... for now. But if something were to awaken them, Brick shudders to imagine what would happen.

He looks over to the city and the scared people within it. He cares for these people, although he has never met them before in his life. His time spent with Brisbaine taught him well. He keeps up a tough face, but Brick knows he is a changed man.

But be it through pride born of a rivalry or duty to the people, he knows that he has to detain or kill the Powerpuff Girls, at least Buttercup, who has direct connections to a plot to kill people using a strange chemical.

He laughs at the irony of the situation. Less than 8 years ago, this situation would have been completely flipped. Brick and the rest of the Rowdyruffs being on the side of lawlessness, while the Powerpuffs play the hero game. It's almost surreal how much has changed in so little time. Yet here Brick stands, bouncing his ball and worrying about the future.

There is nothing he can do now. His knowledge of what may or may not happen is useless right now. Besides, it seems like the people of the city are taking the hint.

Looking around, he notices people are leaving in large groups. They are abandoning the city. Smart move. He catches the ball and puts it in his pocket.

"It's about time I paid Olga a visit."

* * *

(Boomer)

Boomer stands on top of a tall building in Megaville, overlooking the city. He is in his military clothing, not civilian. He doesn't know why, but something is irking him.

Today feels a little different than yesterday. The sunshine doesn't feel as soothing as it should. The wind feels a little weaker than usual too. It feels like the Earth is just having a bad day, which is very odd.

He looks over to the ruin and notices that Brick is going to visit Olga. Boomer remembers something important and flies over to him.

"Brick, wait!" – "Boomer? What is it?" Boomer lands by Brick and stops him from moving forward.

"Olga has company this morning." – "Company...?" – "It's Dexter. He visited her last night and hasn't come out since." Brick looks over to the ruin and sighs.

"I see." Brick says before noticing something. The cloth door is being flipped open! "DOWN...!" He yells in a hush tone.

Dexter walks out of the building. He's talking to himself.

"No. I don't. She's my friend and I love her... but she has done so much evil already... how CAN I trust her?" After a short delay, Dexter shakes his head and begins to fly off slowly.

After he is out of sight, Boomer and Brick rise from the rubble.

"Who was he talking to...?" Brick says to himself. Boomer pauses and picks his words. "Boomer, what is it?" – "I've been talking with civilians since last night and getting their side of this event." – "Yeah? And?" He looks up with a strange look in his eyes.

"You may not believe this... but I think he's talking to his dead sister, Deedee." Brick pauses and thinks to himself.

"Well... if this entire event was to get Mandark back from the dead; it wouldn't be too farfetched to say that Deedee is also back." – "Not just back, I think she's the armor Dexter is wearing." Brick looks over to Boomer with a shocked look in his eyes.

"What is going on in these wars...?!" He begins to walk over to the rubble, before once again being stopped by Boomer. "Let me go in first." – "Oh, uh, okay?" Brick says, confused.

Boomer walks through the cloth door to notice Olga is just now waking up. She looks into Boomer's eyes with anger burning in her own. She isn't fully dressed. She seems to be wearing dark purple sleeping clothes.

"Sorry, but it's that time. I notice you have stayed. I take it you have friends now?" – "Blow it out your ass." – "I'm trying to help you, you know." – "I said before, I don't NEED your help!" – "No, but you may need Dexter's. Maybe even Blossom's."

Boomer stands tall and turns around, beckoning Brick in.

Brick at first seems like he doesn't have much to say, which makes Boomer feel awkward. Olga sighs and chuckles a small bit at how pathetic these two are being. She begins to rise from her bed.

"Are you both done being idiots? Don't even have a plan for me for today?" – "Sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up Olga. I know what you're planning to do." Brick says out of nowhere, surprising even Boomer.

He leans on the wall with a strange emotion burning in his eyes, looking straight into Olga's.

"I overheard everything you said yesterday... and everything you and Boomer have been saying as well." – "B-Brick...! It's not-" – "Chill out Boomer, this isn't even about that, although now I understand the situation a lot better because of it. You have always been soft hearted, brother." – "Brick...?"

He looks over to Boomer.

"That's not a bad thing. I've been doing some thinking this morning. We aren't the bad guys anymore. Before this is over, dare I say we may even be called heroes?" He looks back over to Olga and regains an aggressive demeanor.

"But that is not what I'm talking about. Olga was talking with Phantom last night. You did something to Dexter... what was it...?" – "Wouldn't you like to know?" Olga spits.

"Don't play GAMES with me girl!" – "Or what? You'll kill me? Go ahead." She says with a smug grin across her face. Brick growls and considers beating this killer within an inch of her life, but remembers what he's become.

"No. I won't kill you. Heroes don't kill enemies that could be detained in other ways. But I'm confused... to what end are you betraying Dexter? I understand that our deal was that you would lead him into a trap... but something tells me that you aren't doing this for "us" anymore."

Olga furrows her brow and rises to her feet. She walks over to her Biosimbiote and equips it in front of them. They had plenty of time to stop her, but they let her do it.

She is fully equipped and looks over. To their surprise, she seems to almost be smiling.

"I fight for myself. Not for you. Though in the end, Dexter will be lured into a trap. Isn't that what you wanted all along? Now out of my way, I have a trap to spring." She commands, walking towards the door. Boomer walks out of the way, but Brick stays in the doorway.

She walks near him and when he doesn't move away, she looks up into his eyes.

"I don't know what you're planning, Girl. But remember... we're watching." He moves out of her way and with a sneer, she walks out of the room.

Brick looks over to Boomer. "Where the hell is Butch?"

"This has gone on long enough." Brick says out of nowhere. He looks over to Boomer as they begin to leave the ruined base. "It's obvious she's up to something. I'll follow her. But... there's something I want you to do, Boomer." He says.

"What is that?" – "Whatever she's going to do... I don't like it. It must involve Model M, she talked about reviving it last night. I want you to go to everywhere Model M has been spotted. I'll put it in your device." Brick says, fiddling with Boomer's wrist device. Boomer looks at it afterward.

There are three locations. A windmill, a factory and a forest.

"I'll get right on it." Boomer says without another second to waste. Brick furrows his brow and looks into the sky.

"Boomer was right... today does feel a little weird..."

* * *

(Butch)

With arms tired, he finally stops powering all of the generators at once and takes a breather. This place is well powered now, but due to the faulty wiring, it would still lose all power in a matter of minutes. He looks at his wrist device and gets an idea.

He walks down the stairs and looks around. He notices there are loose wires sticking out of the cracked walls giving off large amounts of electricity. Out of nowhere, he rips into his device and completely obliterates it. He takes some of the wiring out and attaches it to the bare cables sticking out of the walls.

He does this several times. Surprisingly, he's very good at this. In a couple hours' time, this entire level is stable. He notices the lights are flickering again so he heads back up to the top level to power the generators, but he's stopped by the caretaker.

"Did... did you do this?" He asks timidly. Butch turns around with a smirk. "Yep. This level is fixed up, but I don't think I have enough to fix the third or first floors..." – "Oh, that's quite alright... you've done enough." – "No, I insist. I can do more-" – "No, I mean it... it's time for you to go." The caretaker says bluntly.

Butch turns around with confusion on his face.

"What do you mean?" – "I've talked about it with the other people in this building... and we've all agreed. Having a member of the criminal group The Rowdyruff Boys so close to so many children is... not good." – "I already told you, we went legit! We're good guys now!" – "If you really are a 'good guy,' Butch... you would understand why you have to leave."

Butch looks into his eyes. He's stalwart about this, but he can tell from his body language that he is actually scared.

He's scared of Butch, as if he really were still a criminal...

Butch sighs and begins to walk past the caretaker. "I'm sorry..." He says. "Yeah, so am I. Good luck." Butch says, walking downstairs. Everyone except the kids look at him as he walks out. He looks out of the window.

Why does it look like sunset...? Bah, Butch doesn't have time for this.

He goes to leave the building as a woman comes into it. Butch stops in his tracks and looks her in her red eyes. She looks so familiar... Butch's eyes go wide and he runs away very fast.

"Holy crap! That was Blossom! What's she doing here?! I thought she wasn't going to be involved in this!" He says to himself now out of eyesight of her and the Orphanage. He reaches for his wrist device to signal his brothers... but then feels stupid.

"Right..." He says to himself before sighing. He flies up above the city and looks around.

* * *

(Brick and Boomer)

Boomer is talking to Brick, not sure what to make of this entire situation.

"I was talking with Dexter... and then after I left... it was Flame! Drax! F! I'm not sure WHAT it was, but it appeared in the forest where the Model M once was. It set the forest on fire and knocked Dexter out clean! But then... she showed up..." – "Blossom..." – "Yeah..."

Brick looks into the sky and his face breaks into a scowl. The sky is starting to burn even more. He thinks he knows why.

"This day is getting worse and worse." He looks around in the sky and notices someone incoming. The person lands and walks up to them.

"Butch, it's about time. Something serious is going on." – "Yeah, I thought so. Where are we off to?" Brick looks around and frowns, clenching his fist.

"Olga's base..." All three of them fly off at once and make good time to her base. They see Dexter and Olga about to walk into it.

"Our timing couldn't be better..." Brick says, nodding to Butch and Boomer.

Dexter walks inside first, but all three of them land and intercept Olga before she can go inside. Brick walks up to her and grabs her by the arm.

"This is because of Dexter, isn't it?! ALL OF THIS?!" Olga merely smiles and nods, looking him right in the eye. Her grin infuriates Brick.

"Olga?" Dexter asks, before leaving the room. As he steps out, his eyes go wide.

He recognizes Boomer, but the two other men he does not. Brick growls.

"I fucking knew it...!" Brick Says. He points to Dexter as if in judgment.

"Dexter! You are a danger to this world. Surrender or die!"

Dexter stands utterly confused.

"I don't know what you are talking about, GUY, but I'm not a danger to anyone! After all, aren't we on the same side?" Dexter says, going into a battle stance, drawing his weapon.

"The side that wishes to save the world. Yes, well, several hours ago we WERE on the same side." Boomer says and continues. "That was before we realized what you were doing. Now we are here to cut you down and prevent it!" – "What the hell are you talking about?!" Dexter yells, enraged.

The wind around them begins to grow thick again and the skies begin to spin around them.

"Brick, it's happening again!" Butch says. "Enough of this! Dexter! Are you aware of what you are doing? Are you aware that these events are being directly caused by you?" – "What?! No, wait, what?!" Dexter lets out, confused.

Dexter grabs his head as a look of anguish crosses his face. His eyes squint shut through the pain as the ground begins to rumble. Brick growls and walks over to Olga and grabs her by her chest armor and holds her up!

"We know you are doing this...! STOP IT!" He lets out. Olga merely dangles there with a smug smile across her face.

"There's nothing you can do about it." She says simply.

"W-What are you guys... t-talking about...!" Dexter says, his head hurting more and more before the pain forces him to his knees. Emotion throbs through his being and he is chained to the ground by pain and fear!

"WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME?!" He roars out, scratching the pavement!

A deep surge of energy is felt nearby...

Two beings, one blue and one red crash into this battle and before he knows it, Dexter snaps out of this stupor... as if a switch was just turned off in his body! He looks over to the red being-

"F!" He yells out, rising to his feet, his teeth showing sharply!

"Micheal!" Brick yells out, looking at the blue being here. The being he just spoke to flips his hair and looks down on him.

"We aren't here for you, boys. Run along and let us kill Dexter, now." – "Yeah right! What are the chances that you would all show up here when Dexter was at his weakest? This was a damn setup- and you are going to tell us everything!" Brick and the other Rowdyruffs charge him down! He flies away incredibly fast and before they know it, they are enveloped in a thick fog.

Brick tries to land before realizing that the ground is gone, replaced with water and ice!

"Be careful, men. This is a trap." Brick says, floating up and putting his back to theirs. They all look around in this thick fog.

But L isn't hiding...

A dark silhouette is shown just outside of the fog. A human, standing in a divine pose. Arms splayed out and legs straight down.

"MICHEAL!" Brick roars out! "Why are you doing this?! Why did you betray the government? Why did you go rogue? Why did you kill so many people?!" – "That isn't the topic of today, Government dog." – "What did you say?!" Butch yells out!

The fog rumbles and the waves beneath them begins to crash into each other, causing loud ocean noises as if they were in the center of a hurricane.

"You hide behind petty justifications and are bound by your petty rivalries. You wish to kill Blossom... you wish to kill Bubbles and Buttercup... this is fine- we have no further need for them. If that is all you truly wish to do..." He says cutting himself off as the fog begins to clear behind them.

To their surprise, it's Megaville! What's it doing so close to the ocean?

"Then go..." Butch and Boomer look over towards the city, then back to Brick, who is holding firm looking right at L.

Boomer is unsure about whether or not they are going or leaving. Is this about Brisbaine's orders? Is this really about justice or saving the world, maybe? Boomer is unsure about all of this. Brick stays silent, but Butch is actually the one to float forward.

"NEVER!" He yells out as loud as he can towards L.

"We have come too far, seen too much destruction to let this go on any longer! I've left my past behind me! We will bring you to justice and save these people and redeem our name!" – "HAHAHA!" L laughs as loud as it can, booming across the air.

A scythe materializes into the fog and becomes a part of the silhouette.

"Another hack group of 'heroes'... I truly expected more from you all. I truly expected you to find your own answers. After all, you have the power to sculpt your own destiny! You are superhumans with positions in the Government! The world is your play thing yet here you are playing the façade of hero. Truly disappointing."

The fog completely vanishes and the ocean seems to have frozen over. Boomer looks behind him; the image of Megaville is gone. It's all ice as far as the eye can see!

Two beings float away from L! One made of ice and one made of water.

Butch floats forward to the surprise of Brick and Boomer.

"I'll take L... I've had enough of his fucking face." Butch says, eyes deadlocked onto L's. Brick nods. "Alright Butch, it's your call.

Butch takes something out of his pocket. It seems to be a pair of gloves. Brick and Boomer also takes some gloves out and put them on. Boomer's are large, covering his entire forearms while Brick's are much smaller, fingerless even.

They seem to pulse with electrified energy.

All six of the fighters land on the smooth ice and go into battle stances.

Boomer makes the opening move, charging over to the water being with a giant aura of blue energy surrounding his attack! The glove is spreading energy making Boomer a giant human bullet! He uses his arms as a battering ram, one forearm in front of him while his other arm supports! He nearly breaks the sound barrier and completely obliterates the water being in a single hit! It seems Boomer's gloves amplify his power and speed!

Brick charges the ice being and goes into hand to hand combat! The ice being forms a blade sharper than ice would normally allow and crashes down on Brick! But to the being's surprise, he catches it in the palm of his hand. The blade isn't cutting through anything! He twists the blade, takes it into his own hand and blasts the being in half with it, before breaking the blade over his knee. It seems Brick's gloves are made for defense rather than offense!

Butch chases down L and gets the first hit rather easily! L tries to swipe at him with his scythe for an easy kill, but Butch extends his hands out towards the scythe and a giant ray of green energy completely obliterates his arm and scythe, also breaking the frozen ocean to pieces, causing tidal waves and spreading ice everywhere! Butch's gloves seem to allow him to discharge energy at a catastrophic level!

L fumbles back, the water being, ice being and even his own right arm all completely obliterated in less than a minute. He falls to his knees and begins to take hard breaths.

But he can't help but laugh...! Butch walks over to him and grabs his head by the hair and forces him to look him in the eye.

"We are going to save this world from you and Model M... it's over, Micheal." – "It hasn't even begun... haha..." He laughs quietly, losing energy.

The ocean around them seems to fade before they find themselves by the Megaville harbor.

All three of them look over to the city. A large meteor is forming over it, looming over it.

"Is that... Model M?" Brick asks, invoking a response from L.

"Is it the purity that is Model M? The force that wished to save the world from itself...? Not any more... it is an inverted Model M... a 'W' if you will..." He says, coughing up blood. He knows his time is nearly here.

"While Model M brings life and saves the world... this inverted M... W ends life... ends the world. It truly is 'World's End...' You have no hope. All of you... Brick, Butch, Boomer... even Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup are all doomed. All that is required is Dexter! None of you are written on the wall! Your destinies are forfeit! YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD! HAHAHA!" He laughs manically, coughing blood up before life leaves his face.

L's body fizzles away into energy before all that is left is a suit of blue armor. It casually floats off towards the city. All three of them can see the black crystals flying into World's End and none of them are sure how to act.

"What now...?" Boomer asks. Brick seems uncertain, but Butch steps up.

"We have to end this, now. This world cannot afford to be destroyed- there is too much at stake! Olga and Dexter will pay!" He looks back to his brothers.

"We leave our pasts behind. From here on, we truly are heroes! We will save this world and clear our name!" He says with his head held high. Brick and Boomer nod. They all fly off at once towards the meteor.

Towards the end of the world.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _The Rowdyruff side is slightly unique, in that they don't have Chronometals like Blossom or Dexter, but instead of making interactions with the spirits within, they usually interact with each other, or other characters like Olga. Their powers are relatively small, when put into comparison with Chronometals, but if that battle with L was any indication, when put together they are certainly more powerful than at least one, due in part to excellent training, but mostly due to those experimental gauntlets they're wearing. They'll be shown in a later story again, but this was the last daily chapter before day 2 ends, and you know that THAT means._


	9. Day 2: End

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Day Two – End

The end of the world is upon us.

From the south along the coast, the Rowdyruffs and the Blue Armor approach World's End.

From the west along the mountains, Blossom and the Green Armor approach World's End.

From the east among the wreckage of Megaville, Dexter and the Red Armor approach World's End.

One person stands upon it. One person stands upon World's End.

Olga.

World's End rumbles and quakes as the heroes approach, as if anticipating their arrival. The sun is beginning to fall. Above the clouds it still looks blue and serene, but below the clouds the aura of the End of the World is palpable. The clouds are sickly brown and the air is acrid and dark.

Storms whip up around the huge meteor. It is completely and utterly unapproachable, but there seems to be a small opening beneath it. The tallest building in Megaville seems to be the perfect size to jump in. All of the heroes converge on the building at once.

To their surprise, they all arrive at exactly the same time.

"Blossom?!" Dexter yells. "Dexter...? What are THEY doing here?!" Blossom yells. "Butch... they are both here, what do we do?" Boomer asks. Butch looks over to Brick who merely nods. Butch nods as well and turns back to Boomer. "Nothing has changed. We are all here for the same reason." He says, looking over to Dexter and Blossom.

"Right?"

They look over to each other. Dexter still unsure about how he wants Blossom to be involved.

"Well-" He tries to say as World's End rumbles!

A giant being forms just outside of it and glows with brilliant colors!

Green, Red and Blue!

"The Armors!" Dexter yells out.

Pieces of World's End break off and form around the colors until a gigantic being of unimaginable mass presides over them! It has a Dragon's Head, a long slender body devoid of any extremities other than its two arms which splay out with horrible claws at their tips. Instead of wings, it has 6 gigantic plates that fan out.

Its large iron eyes break open and look at the beings below.

"I TOLD YOU IT WAS NOT YET OVER!" A horrible amalgamation of voices resembling Leviathan, Micheal, Harpuia, Elly, Fefnir and Drax let out! So many voices screaming at once is almost deafening!

The storm around World's End expands to cover the entire sky as the Chronometal Dragon flies down below the storm and flies just above the heroes on the roof! They cling to the edge as a huge whirlwind whips up and nearly blows them off!

They regain their footing and look at each other.

"Look, Dexter, I don't care about what you've been saying to me. And you guys- I don't know why you are here, but if you really are here to help we ALL need to work together!" Blossom says passionately as the Dragon comes down for another pass.

"If we don't work together, this thing could destroy us! We are so close; we just need to push through this!" She says as she prepares for impact! The Rowdyruffs bunch up with Blossom to attempt to take the brunt of the attack with her! Dexter hesitantly does this as well. The five heroes form a wall to protect them from the whirlwind that is whipped up by the Dragon flying so close to them again!

They all separate and Blossom flies off to the Dragon before it can fly around again! She lands on its back and tries to find a weak point among the plate-wings on its back! She whips out her B-Saber and slashes anything she can, but nothing works!

Dexter flies beside the Dragon and catches its attention. Once it looks over to him, he fires a large laser into its eye, causing it to shriek in pain! It writhes in the air, coasting towards a building and causing it to crash into it! Yet it flies off like it only hit a breeze!

The Rowdyruffs equip their gloves and wait for the Dragon to pass over them again.

Blinded by the laser and tormented by Blossom on top of it, it begins to swing by the building again! Boomer jumps in front of Butch and he launches him with diffused energy! Boomer's gloves activate and turn him into a blue and green missile! Brick flies in toe.

Boomer hits the dragon square in the chest and knocks the wind out of it! He bounces back, but Brick kicks Boomer's form back at the Dragon for a Double Take! The first hit knocked its breath out, the second one knocks it back! They all fly up to each other and chase it down as it begins to crash into the buildings below!

"NO!" Blossom yells, trying to hold the dragon from crashing into the building as hard as she can!

"Damn it, if they are good guys now, why are they causing this-" She tries to say before she is interrupted by the Rowdyruffs showing up and helping her break its descent! She thinks to herself... maybe they 'have' changed?

The Dragon slows down and does not hit the building. The Rowdyruffs and Blossom muster their powers to launch it towards Dexter!

He's been charging up a thunder lance this whole time! He throws it with his full power towards the Dragon! Its iron eyes open up and he quickly rolls out of the way! The lance launches towards Blossom and the Boys now! But Butch quickly catches it in his gloves and quickly launches it back at the Dragon with a laser backing it up!

Blossom quickly appears in front of the Dragon and takes a deep breath. The Dragon opens up its mouth to crunch down on her, but she breathes out as hard as she can to freeze it in place!

The thunder lance strikes it in the back and causes a bolt of lighting to hit it that very instant! The Dragon roars out in pain and flies off to World's End!

"This thing can't take all of us!" Dexter says almost happily! Blossom, Butch, Brick and Boomer all fly in unison with Dexter to fight the Dragon once more!

Olga merely looks on at the battle with an emotionless expression.

"Win or lose... I've already won." She says to herself before she steps back and walks down stairs located on the top of the meteor.

The Dragon stops itself in mid air and turns around. It opens its mouth and begins to charge a huge laser! Before they have time to mull over this event, it fires out and they all dodge into the air! The laser is black and powerful; a single hit could mean death! They all nimbly stay ahead of the attack, but barely!

The laser finally dies down and they all charge down to attack it! It swipes at them with its claws, forcing them to split into two groups!

Blossom, Brick and Boomer on one side, Dexter and Butch on the other!

It holds out its two hands to channel an energy attack that locks them all in place! They all struggle to get free, but they cannot move!

It opens its mouth one more time and faces Blossom, Brick and Boomer. It begins to charge an attack and they can't move! They struggle as hard as they can, but they can't do anything! They close their eyes and attempt to brace for impact!

A giant fireball is launched from its mouth and explodes!

... But on whom...?

It definitely hit something- someone. But they open their eyes and all they can see is smoke. Yet out of nowhere, they can hear someone.

"Is that all you got?" A familiar voice lets out. Everyone, the Dragon included looks up to view the person. It's a girl- and she has company!

She snaps her arm into place and breaks into a toothy grin, looking at Blossom.

"Hey, Blossom." – "BUTTERCUP! You're back! Your timing couldn't be better!" – "You know it; hold on, we will get you out!" Buttercup and Bubbles charge all of their power into respective green and blue balls of energy and launch it at the Dragon's face! It roars out in pain and relents its grip on the heroes!

Blossom and Dexter fly up to meet with Bubbles and Buttercup, but the Rowdyruffs stay put together.

"WEAKLINGS!" The Dragon roars. "I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" The Dragon charges at them all and the Powerpuff Trio holds them off at the head! Dexter flies down and joins the Rowdyruffs for a weak-point attack.

"There!" Brick points out on his device. "That is its structural weakness!" They all nod and rush to its underbelly. Near its chest is a small opening.

"N-NO!" The Dragon hisses.

Brick, Butch, Boomer and Dexter all charge energy attacks and attack the weakness at once! It yells in pain but the Powerpuff Girls flip it around and dive onto the weakness themselves.

"One for the Money!" – "Two for the Show!" – "Three for your Bruises!" – "And four to Go!" – "Let's finish this!" – "WITH A FINAL BLOW!" All three of them unleash their attacks at the same time!

"NOT YET!" The Dragon Roars as a surge of Energy is expelled from its core! Blossom Bubbles and Buttercup all try to stop it at once, but Bubbles is blown away quickly! Buttercup tries to stay but is also blown back!

Blossom tries to best to withstand the power, but she is beginning to be blown back too! "Bell...! I need... more power...!" – 'There isn't more to give you...!' – "What about... what Olga... did?" – 'What Olga... ...?! No, Blossom you couldn't mean-' – "Please Bell, help me stop all of this! DO IT!"

A surge of red energy explodes outside of Blossom and she gains immense power and before anyone knows it, she reverses the power from the Dragon right back into its core and causes an explosion! Both the Dragon and Blossom are blown away from each other!

The Dragon crashes into World's End and its eyes close as its energy fades, but Blossom is send flying hundreds of miles away! It could take a while for her to get back!

It seems that- for now... they have won.

"BLOSSOM!" Buttercup yells out. "Don't." Dexter says as she looks back, almost insulted before he continues.

"She's strong. She's alive... and she's persistent. She will be back. Until then, we have a job to do." He says, pointing at World's End. Buttercup growls, but agrees.

Dexter mounts the building and begins to climb up to World's End. To his surprise, the Rowdyruffs aren't following.

"Guys? Are you coming?" They merely look at each other with blank but meaningful expressions. They look back to him and shake their heads. He is confused, but he can't stop here. He has to go into World's End.

Buttercup and Bubbles begin to walk in with him...

But the Rowdyruff Boys cut them off.

"What's the big idea?!" Buttercup barks out.

"You know what it is, Buttercup! You and Dexter are conspiring to destroy the world!" Brick yells out, putting his fists up, readying for battle!

"What are you talking about?" She asks, genuinely confused.

"Don't play dumb! We know about the Chemical, we know about you guys going to 'Cut off Model M's Food supply!' Don't try to deny it!" Boomer yells, tightening his gloves.

"Oh... that." Buttercup says with a grin. "WAIT WHAT?!" Bubbles blurts out.

"Bubbles. Leave." Butch lets out simply, looking her in the eye. "W-What?!" – "Buttercup is guilty. We're taking her in, or taking her down." – "IS THIS REALLY THE TIME OR THE PLACE?!" – "Do you think we are going to let a potential murderer into World's End? Not likely. We're ending this HERE AND NOW!" Butch says with a toothy grin!

Bubbles merely backs up from the situation. Buttercup looks back. "Go." – "H-Huh?" – "This is my fight. Not yours." – "N-No way! We're sisters! You're a hero! Not a murderer! They are wrong, and I'll prove it!" She says, going into a battle stance.

Buttercup can't help but smile. She nods and turns back to the Rowdyruffs.

"Have it your way, Bubbles. This 'could' get messy..."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Yet when the day ends, the fight hasn't? What is midnight if not the eclipse of a greater eve? After this is the 3 part epilogue, much larger than any other epilogue beforehand._


	10. End of the World: Epilogue Part 1 of 3

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Epilogue Part 1 of 3  
-UNDER WORLD'S END-

"One question before we begin." Buttercup says, still in a battle stance.

"You say you know what Dexter and I are planning... while you aren't wrong, I'm still curious. Why didn't you detain 'him'?" Brick responds. "Because he is the only individual here who can stop this. Whether we like it or not, he needs to be in World's End."

"Is that right?" She sneers, patting her brown dress. "Enough of this. Buttercup, surrender!" – "No." – "NO?! What do you mean no?!" Butch yells out. "We outnumber and outclass you- and need I remind you we have the authority to use deadly force? We can KILL YOU!" All she does is smile. The Rowdyruffs furrow their brows. There was something in them that wanted her to react like this, but...

Boomer makes the first move!

He bolts from one edge of this building-top to Buttercup and before she even has a chance to defend herself, Boomer's forearm already smacks her away, a trail of blood leaving her nose. His eyes are set to Bubbles who doesn't falter surprisingly!

She channels blue energy in her two hands and energy courses through her! Her air banks in the energy laden air and she unleashes a giant blue storm that engulfs the building! Boomer covers his face in the storm! Everyone stands upon the building, awaiting the next move.

Buttercup rises to her feet and charges Boomer down and lands a keen kick to the face, sending him flying back to the Rowdyruffs! He wipes his mouth and stands back up. Butch cracks his knuckles and unleashes a gigantic green laser that shakes the foundations of the building they are standing on!

Buttercup intercepts it and holds it at bay with a single arm! Her arm is slowly obliterated by the attack, but she manages to hold it off until the attack runs out of energy. She winces, but all she can do is laugh.

In front of all of them, the air around her arm fizzles with red energy before a bolt of red lightning shoots out of her and her arm and clothing is completely back to normal. She cracks her knuckles and taunts them with her newly regenerated hand as if to say "Bring it on."

"What the hell is going on?!" – "It's clear that she has some kind of new power we are unsure of." – "So... where does this leave us." – "All out." Brick says as an order. Butch nods and cracks his neck, preparing.

"LAST FUCKING CHANCE BUTTERCUP!" – "Blow it out your ass." Butch smiles.

All three of them take off at once and Bubbles breaks into a cold sweat. She raises her arms in defense but a single jab from Boomer brings her to her knees. She raises her hands over her head to defend herself.

But Boomer merely stands there. She reluctantly looks up, her eyes squinting as if anticipating any attack, but he merely looks on at the battle between Buttercup and his brothers. Bubbles tries to rise to her feet, but Boomer forces her to the roof.

"Stay here." – "N-No! Let me go!" – "THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!" Boomer snaps. She looks up with tears growing in her eyes born of frustration and fear. Her blue eyes and his blue eyes lock, but he also looks a little sad.

"We don't want to kill you, Bubbles. You are innocent. Completely." He says as the battle is heard just a few feet away, Buttercup screaming in pain and the Rowdyruffs getting knocked back before quickly flying back in.

"I won't let you do this to my sister!" She yells, her eye lasers blowing Boomer back! Bubbles quickly runs over to aid Buttercup.

Her clothes are stained with blood, but she looks completely fine. It's just like with her arm... she doesn't seem to be taking ANY damage!

"What the hell is going on?!" Butch asks, panting. Brick growls before he feels something.

"This energy... do you feel that?" – "Feel what?" – "Buttercup's energy, focus a small bit..." Butch and Brick stop their assault for a second.

Butch's eyes go wide. "Could it... be?" – "It makes sense..." – "But-" – "Now is not the time. At least we know why." – "Then... can we even win?" – "The Beat-Alls were defeated once. He isn't invincible." Brick taunts.

"Enough chitchat!" Buttercup yells, launching a wave of green energy that blasts the roof to pieces and sends the fragments flying at the Rowdyruffs! They are blown off the building-top and regroup, this time with Boomer.

Boomer extends his left arm out and prepares to charge. Butch launches a ray of energy from his gloves and cannonballs Boomer into Buttercup, who attempts to halt the attack but is easily blown away by the attack. While in mid-air, Buttercup and Boomer engage in hand-to-hand combat!

Bubbles whips up another tornado, but Brick's gauntlets absorb the blue energy and condense it into a ball. He throws it at Bubbles, causing an unstable burst of energy to blow her off the building!

Brick attempts to fly to engage Buttercup, but an enraged Bubbles flies up from the rubble and punches him right in the jaw, causing a single tooth to fly out of sight! He rubs his chin and spits blood. He is just about done with this girl.

"Those who get in the way of government business... are guilty..." – "Get off your high horse!" Bubbles yells, charging him down!

Meanwhile, Butch and Boomer do battle with Buttercup, who has summoned two red crystals from her hand and is using them as combat batons to parry their attacks! Butch gets a hand of one of them and rips it from her grip and jabs her in the face! This throws her off balance and lets Boomer grab her by the legs and throw her into a nearby building, causing it to collapse at the seems.

They check to see if she's down and out, but she quickly explodes from the ruin and head butts Butch in the face, causing him to recoil back with a stream of blood following, but Boomer doesn't skip a beat and uses that time to land a powerful punch to Buttercup's exposed Kidney!

She screams out in pain and holds it. She's immortal, but she can still feel pain! She winces, but Boomer swoops down and lands a killer kick to the middle of her face, throwing off her center of gravity! He flies under her and crashes into her back, causing a horrible cracking noise to be heard! Buttercup tries to scream out in pain, but she has no breath. Boomer then takes one of her arms and throws her back to the building next to World's End.

Butch rubs his face and wipes the blood off of it. He and Boomer fly off to Buttercup, who is still trying to get up from all the pain. Brick flies in with an unconscious Bubbles in his clutches. He puts her down outside of combat on side of the roof and approaches Buttercup. She tries to snap back up, but Boomer and Butch hold her down by the arms and legs. She's immortal, not stronger than them!

Brick stands over her, rage burning within him.

"This is what is has come to, huh?" Brick says. "It hasn't even begun, yet!" Buttercup snarls. "You should know that nothing you can do can stop me!" – "Perhaps not, but you can feel pain... and more importantly-" He says, turning around.

"So can she."

Buttercup's eyes go wide as she struggles to get free, but she cannot break free of their grips. "DON'T YOU DARE HURT HER!" – "She's just as guilty as you are." Brick says, standing over Bubbles.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" – "Guys, see if she can talk with no windpipe." Brick says, deviously. Boomer puts one of his hands around her throat and begins to squeeze as hard as he can, knowing this cannot truly kill her.

Brick raises his hand and aims it at the unconscious Bubbles and begins to power up a green laser.

Buttercup tries to scream in protest, but she can only cough up blood! Brick breaks into an unexpected dark smile. Some things never seem to change...

Right before he unleashes his red laser, something unexpected happens!

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM THEM!" An enraged Blossom roars, cleaving down and blasting Brick's hand clean off and causing a gash to go down his chest! "AHHHHHHHH!" He yells, stumbling backwards. He holds his blasted arm with his other hand as hard as he can, but the pain is more than he can bear!

Butch and Boomer look to each other. "Let's put her out of commission, then take care of Blossom." Boomer grabs Buttercup by the core behind her and prevents her from moving around as Butch moves in front of her, eclisping Blossom's sight.

He looks back right into Blossom's widening eyes. "No..." Is all she can mutter as Butch does something completely unthinkable.

A giant laser completely blows through Buttercup's chest, leaving nothing but a singed bleeding hole! Boomer holds off Butch's attack from behind Buttercup with his gauntlets.

Buttercup's body slumps to the roof and Boomer stands over it. He then kicks it off the building and looks back to Blossom. She seems completely paralyzed, but something is boiling in her.

"AHHHHHHH!" She roars, red energy exploding outward, blowing dust and electricity in all directions, instantly waking Bubbles up to see Buttercup's falling body.

"Buttercup...!" She timidly yells before coughing. Brick did too much to her, she can barely move.

"GET OUT OF HERE...!" Blossom growls to Bubbles. "What-" – "I SAID GO, NOW!" Without another word, Bubbles stumbles to her feet and begins to fly off.

Brick crawls over to his brothers and rises to his feet, still wincing from the pain, but he realizes he still has one hand. More than enough to fight...!

"I can't begin to imagine what you have done... what you are going to make me do!" – "We-" – "YOU KILLED MY SISTER!" She roars, instantly teleporting to Boomer and blasting him away with a violent red ray of energy. She quickly turns around and draws her saber and attacks Butch, who instantly bounds backwards and jumps straight into the air above the building, closer to World's End.

She smacks Brick and his one gauntlet away and chases Butch down in mid-air above the tall building.

But he doesn't run away, he is relishing this! He dodges her attacks and jumps back. He launches another laser beam, but she's had enough of this! She throws her B-Saber and it cuts through his laser and impales his shoulder! He yells out in pain and tries to dig it out, but Blossom shows up and tears it out herself.

She looks him dead in the eye, thinking and moving a mile a minute. Anger boils within her. "THIS IS FOR BUTTERCUP!" She yells with righteous indignation as she slashes down on him as strong as she possibly can! From his shoulder to the opposite sided leg, Butch is blasted in half, blood spraying everywhere gruesomely.

There is no surviving that attack and the other Rowdyruffs know that. His body halves fall to the building and all they can do is look upon the horror. Blossom also lands, looking them dead in the eye, covered in blood.

"No... NO!" – "Boomer no!" They yell as Boomer unwisely charges Blossom down! She lunges her sword out and it pierces his chest! "GAH... nghh... RAH!" He yells first in pain then in anger as he crawls down the impaling weapon and punches Blossom hard enough to knock her off balance! He drops to the ground and rips the sword out. He gasps as blood spill to the ground and his vision goes blurry. He charges Blossom down, but she's already back on her feet by the time he reaches her.

She easily bats the sword out of his hand and reclaims it. She lunges it into him once more and forces him to the ground and looks him in the eye. Her eyes are one of pure rage being awakened in the pit of her soul, while his are those of fear and lifelessness. His eyes eventually close and all she can feel is anger. This revenge means nothing to her, she is completely lost in this and all she can feel is rage!

She takes the saber out and looks Brick in the eye. His two brothers now dead on the ground around him.

"Blossom... you... no..." – "YOU'RE NEXT!" She roars, exploding after him! At this point she knows she can bargain for his surrender. He has lost, she has won... but she doesn't want victory. She wants revenge!

He holds her off with his one last defensive glove and throws her back with huge amounts of energy in her wake! He launches himself at her while in mid-air and rips the sword from her grasp! He blasts her with it, causing blood to leave her and causing her to crash into a nearby building.

She quickly flashes the rubble to dust and flies up to him! She closes her eyes to perceive his attacks, but she doesn't have the true sight. All she can see is her sister being...

"GAHHHH!" She yells out in pure rage as she charges him down and pins him to the ground by the throat! He attempts to slash at her with her weapon, but she twists it out of his grasp and impales his arm to the ground with it!

She squeezes tighter and tighter as the very life is crushed from him.

Blossom has never felt so angry.

Blossom has never felt so empty.

She doesn't even know what is going on.

But before she knows it, all three of them are dead.

She slowly relents her fingers from his lifeless neck and stands over his body, trembling. What has she done? She has killed... not just killed, murdered, in pure anger and cold blood.

Is this it...? She wonders to herself, what even happens after this. Is she supposed to cry? Is she supposed to have a crisis of self? Is she supposed to ignore it and move on?

World's End rumbles around them, her actions and their lives completely pointless. She has never felt so scared in her life. She doesn't even know who she is anymore. Her hands tremble and she begins to cry, but not verbally. Her eyes leak but her mouth stays still. She makes no noises; she merely trembles and falls to her knees.

She shakes and grabs her arms and rubs them on herself. She doesn't know why. She feels cold.

"B... Blossom...?" Bubbles asks, behind her. Blossom does not respond. Bubbles walks around timidly, among the dead bodies. A tear grows in her own eye. Why has it come to this? What even happened?

What happens now? "Butt...er...cup..." Blossom speaks in broken English, her voice trembling so much it's hard to make real words. "She's... dead...d...d...d..." She stutters, unable to accept what she has just seen. She slams her hand on the roof as hard as she possibly can!

Even Bubbles is blown away by the force of the attack!

"BUTTERCUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!" She roars as loudly as she can, her voice even causing World's End to rumble. The building they were standing on begins to collapse due to the force of her slam and before they know it, all of the horrifying corpses are gone from sight.

"Blossom... I..." Bubbles tries to say as she floats over to the also floating Blossom. She tries to find words, but all she can do is extend her arms out. She is crying, but she's extending her arms out like she wants a hug. Blossom looks over, also crying. She can't hold it in any longer!

She grabs Bubbles and holds on for dear life, pouring all her love into her one remaining sister. She grabs on tightly, but Bubbles doesn't mind the pain. She knows exactly what she's going through.

"Guys..." A voice says from somewhere. They look around. "GUYS, OVER HERE!" They look around to the under-entrance to World's End.

It's... It's...

BUTTERCUP!

Blossom flies off and grabs onto her as hard as she can without another word. She hugs her tightly and Buttercup coughs out in happiness and pain. "O-Okay Blossom- OW THAT HURTS, come on... dang..." – "How are you alive...?! Y-Your chest... and what is wrong with your clothes?! Brown?!" – "That's a long story. You have a job to do." – "I have... what?" Buttercup detaches from Blossom and points behind her. The entrance to World's End.

"Dexter went in there. I saw Olga is here too. This is it, this is the end. Maybe the end of everything." – "Buttercup!" – "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to sidestep the issue here." She looks around.

"This meteor is the size of the city. Bubbles and I will stay out here in case it... falls... You go in." – "But..." – "It's okay, leader girl. We believe in you. You are stronger than anyone here. If anyone can do this, it's you." – "B-Buttercup... haha..." Blossom wipes the tears from her eyes and nods. She flies slowly into the opening into the meteor and looks back.

"Be careful you two." – "You too." Everyone nods and goes their separate ways.

* * *

Blossom slowly walks into the meteor. It's dark in here and nearly impossible to see. She falls down a hole and lands on something unexpectedly soft. She shakes her head and looks around, expecting a deep, dark and dank cave...

But... what is this...?

This doesn't look like the inside of a meteor at all; this doesn't even look like Megaville! She looks around and more importantly, she looks up.

Blue sky, white clouds and a bright sun. She looks around, green grass and tall trees. She walks around, the grass crunching under her iron soles. She sees and walks slowly toward a large door almost a mile away across this green expansive meadow. Flowers are blooming and little animals are hopping around.

Butterflies flit around and Blossom, regardless of the serene environment has never felt more afraid in her entire life. What in the world is going on?!

'Blossom?' – "Oh, Bell." - 'I... can feel what you went through.' Blossom looks around this calm area. But, it doesn't make her feel better.

'I can remember what that felt like... fighting to save someone who was close to you...' - "It... was different, Bell. I truly thought she was dead. That was it, that was the endgame. All I had..." She says, looking at her hands.

"All I had was my anger, my rage, my sadness. There was a point in that battle where I probably could have stopped the bloodshed- but I didn't want to. I wanted to rip their throats out... I wanted them dead." She says, her voice unusually calm.

'Are... you okay?' - "I don't know. But there isn't time to worry about "Me." Thanks for the concern, but there are bigger things to worry about than my personal dilemma" - 'If... you say so. Be strong, Blossom.'

Blossom moves forward, but smiles a bit. "Thanks, Bell..." She continues forward through this warped land.

She looks over across a tree to a lake. What she sees shocks her!

It's... Micheal, sitting on a picnic mat, laughing with a blue female robot, Leviathan. They look over to Blossom. Before she has a chance to react, they nod and explode into a white light.

Blossom continues on and the wind picks up. It smells serene. Flower petals blow in the breeze. She looks up and sees Elly, but... she looks much younger. She's a little girl being carried by two beings that look a little like her. A man and a woman.

Her parents?

They have their arms splayed out like they are play-flying, but they are actually in the air. They look down and see Blossom.

They land on the ground next to her and the little girl Elly walks over to Blossom incredibly excited! She looks up with her big red eyes and innocent face. "Blossom! These are my parents!" She turns around and jumps into her dad's arms. The mom walks forward and bows.

"So you are Blossom. Pleased to meet you." – "Uh... likewise."

Elly's face breaks into one of a more sad and serious demeanor. She gets down off of her dad's hands and looks at Blossom.

"I know this isn't real... these are just my memories. I know my parents are dead." She says as they explode into white light. She looks down and begins to cry.

"Lidia and Randal killed them... but they are dead, so I should feel better... right?" – "Who... are you talking about?" – "Revenge doesn't make you feel better, Blossom." Elly says, looking up with sadness in her own eyes.

"It consumes you... and follows you to the grave." She says as she explodes into a white light.

Blossom has no idea what is going on, but she has to push forward. She is about halfway to the door.

To her right among this endless meadow of grass and apple trees, three men walk out from behind a tree, punching each other in their shoulders and laughing.

It's Drax, Fefnir and Harpuia.

They stop in front of Blossom and wave. She waves back, beginning to understand what's going on. Drax walks forward and talks first.

"You know, I have no regrets. You may think I would have some, but I really don't. I had nothing personal against Randal, Lidia or Shaun... their deaths didn't really make me feel stronger. Or more empty now that I think about it." He looks into the sky and takes a deep breath.

"But, all of this battle, all of these Chronometal Wars... they took a lot out of me. I forgot what I was fighting for." His red dreadlocks blow in the breeze. This is the first time Blossom has ever seen him without his sunglasses on.

He looks over and for the first time in his life, he wears a serious expression.

"Don't ever forget what you are fighting for, Blossom." He says as he explodes into a white light.

Harpuia and Fefnir walk up with smiles on their face, but Blossom doesn't understand. They should be sad! They are dead, everything they tried to do ended in failure!

"Don't feel bad for us, Blossom. We tried. In the end, that was all we could do." – "Yeah, we gave it our all. If there's one thing we've learned to accept, it's that fate is strong and rolling with it is a lot better than fighting it." They nod and begin to walk away.

"Wait! Please wait..." Blossom pleads. Harpuia turns back.

"It's okay, Blossom. You have the power we don't. The power to change destinies. Don't you ever forget that." He says before they both explode into white lights.

Blossom shakes her head and moves on. She is closer to the door now. Only about a fourth of a mile to go. She expects to be cut off by Olga and Phantom next, but she remembers that they are still alive.

The flowers flit in the soft breeze and the birds chirp. The sky is clear and calm. She is almost hesitant to leave this place.

She nears the door, but she is stopped by someone. Someone she didn't expect.

It's Dexter... and he's in an aggressive stance.

"Dexter! There you are!" Blossom says, relieved. As she approaches, Dexter draws his weapon and points it at her.

"W-What?" – "Leave, Blossom." He says, with hatred and malice in his voice.

"Stop this Dexter... we can team up against Olga and stop this!" – "I won't let you hurt her." – "WH... WHAT?! What are you talking about?" – "I promised an old friend that she would be safe." Blossom clenches her fists.

"Dexter... stop this..." – "LEAVE, BLOSSOM!" She growls and slowly takes out her saber. She doesn't want to do this, but it seems there isn't any other choice.

Dexter gasps softly, but maintains his aggression. He didn't expect her to resist, but he's prepared for this possibility. He draws a 'second' D-Saber, one Blossom has never seen before.

His first is Gold, the same color as his armor, but the second one is black, as if it were empowered by Model M!

"Dexter... what is happening to you?" – "You leave me no choice. You have to leave Blossom, either of your own volition, or by force!" – "I am not turning back! I can't let everyone down!" She says, brandishing her weapon, also pointing it at Dexter.

"Then you will die here!" Blossom's eyes go wide. Did he really say, die...?

Dexter charges her down and she blocks with her saber! Both his gold and black sabers grind against her single white saber, causing sparks and energy to fly off in all directions.

"Dex... ter... why?! What has gotten into you?!" She says, batting him off before going on the offensive. She harnesses the power of Elly and Harpuia's wind energy and launches a bolt of lightning at Dexter! He summons a shield of Darkness from Phantom and Olga's energy and defends against it easily.

He reappears from the darkness and attacks her from behind! She has barely enough time to react! She can parry one sword, but she gets slashed and falls to her knees. Dexter looks down on her, but she unleashes a firestorm from her hands from Drax and Fefnir!

"I won't let them down! I will kill Olga, Dexter!" – "I... won't... let you!" He encases himself in Leviathan ice and bolts over to her, piercing the fire and knocking her back!

She regains her footing, but covers her wound from his attack with one hand. She struggles to stand. This fight ended before it even began... Dexter is simply too powerful. She falls once again to her knees, but this time without the power to resist.

"You've let everyone down, Blossom." – "H-Huh...?" – "You've let your sisters down; you've given them false hope. You let the world down. You are not the hero you promised yourself you'd be. You've killed! Blossom, you are no hero. You are a mistake." He walks over to her slumped body.

"You've even let me down. I was hoping you would take the hint and leave... but now it's come to this." He says with sadness in his eyes, looking down on her. She puts her head down, revealing her neck.

"If you are going to kill me... then do it..." She says simply, tears falling from her eyes and into the serene grass.

He puts away his black blade and walks over to her with his golden blade at the ready. He stands over her.

'D-Dexter... you can't really mean to-' – "Shut up, Deedee!" – 'Dexter...!' Bell yells out from Blossom's armor as well.

Deedee's spirit and Bell's spirit stand in front of him. He knows exactly why they are there... and he also knows they can't stop him from doing 'anything.'

"Blossom... go..." He says one last time. "I can't... I made a promise... a promise to never run away... a promise to see this through... a promise to save this world." Dexter sighs and turns his back on her.

She looks up with rage in her eyes.

"You failed. You can't stop this. Only I can. I started this, a long time ago. Now it's time for me to face the music. Goodbye forever Blossom." – "Dexter...!" Blossom blubbers.

He walks off to the door and opens it. He turns back, Blossom looking him right in the eye. Deedee walks over to him and sighs before fading back into the armor. Bell does the same for Blossom.

He walks into the door as it closes.

Blossom yells and slams the ground as hard as she can! She scratches the grass and soil and cries as she collapses onto the ground, yelling, crying, screaming...

She had fought so hard, against the Rowdyruffs, against her own emotions, against Micheal and Leviathan and now against Dexter... but...

Dexter has moved on. Blossom has failed. All she can do is lay there, powerless. Her eyes are open, but she lay with her back to the ground, looking into the sky she knows isn't real, wondering where it all went wrong.

What's the point of even trying anymore...?

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _And this was part 1 of 3 of the epilogue, showing off a grand battle against the Rowdyruffs, and an unexpected battle between Dexter and Blossom. Blossom's confusion about Buttercup's powers were not limited to just the first story, but by the time she finally showed up in the second war, Blossom hadn't had any time to really ask. Talking with spirits, and fighting with Dexter, Blossom's destiny is far from over._


	11. End of the World: Epilogue Part 2 of 3

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Epilogue Part 2 of 3  
-INSIDE WORLD'S END-

Dexter closes the door behind him.

The world around him is still surreal, a world that has no business being inside of a meteor that begets death and decay. It is a thick forest with blue flowers everywhere. Rain is falling, but it is a light drizzle that clinks against his armor.

He moves forward upon the single paved path. The stone he walks upon is flat and carved. Roots and moss growing in between the cracks in the road. If this world is a fake, it is a really well designed fake. Is this what it truly looks like inside of World's End? It can't be. He looks up.

Through the cracks in the leaves are rays of pure sunshine. The clouds outside are sickly and brown, but from in here it still looks so pure and clean.

Is this Heaven? Hell? What could this place possibly be?

Dexter moves on through the blue flowered thicket in the forest and notices that all around him are ruins. Trees grow over the broken stone buildings. The rain pools between roots and cascades down over the broken buildings. Yet like the meadow just before... this place cannot be real. Dexter is too enveloped with logic and pessimism to be absorbed into this place.

He bats the low branches out of the way as he continues through the wet and somewhat cold jungle. He doesn't hear bugs, or birds, or any wildlife really. It is so unlike a jungle. The meadow outside looked like a real meadow, but there isn't a place like this in real life at all. This place is pure fiction!

The blue flowers fade before even the trees themselves seem to be blue. The light flashing through the canopy also glows a light blue. Dexter looks over and notices a huge ruin just in front of him. The path leads into it.

He walks up the massive broken stone steps, water rushing down them like a waterfall and roots breaking through them like invaders. He carefully steps over every hazard and makes it to the top into the ruin.

The path ends, there is nowhere left to go. There are five pillars here in the overhead pattern of a star. One in front, two to the left and two to the right. There are letters carved into them.

He walks over to the leftmost pillar and wipes the moss off the stone.

"B." He says to himself. A simple letter is present on the pillar. He walks over to the other pillar, this one covered in roots. He takes out his saber and carefully slices the roots off.

"B-2?" He says to himself again. B-2? What does that mean? For that matter, what does B mean?

He turns around and goes to the two right pillars. The rightmost one isn't covered by any obstructions, though it is a little faded.

"D..." He says. He looks at his own armor. "D?" He wonders. Are these Chronometals? He walks up to the next pillar and wipes away the invading moss.

"S. Haven't heard that one before. Maybe it's not Chronometals?" He says to himself. He looks over to the last pillar, the one in the front of the room.

The rain falls down and continuously hits leaves making pitter patter noises and clanking against his armor. This place seems convincing; despite Dexter knowing it simply cannot exist.

The final pillar isn't in disrepair. It's completely untouched, by the plants, by age... even by the rain! There is a single letter on that as well.

"M. Model M... Mandark." Dexter says. Dexter looks at the floor. There are carvings that lead all of the pillars to each other in a star pattern, M being the top of the star.

M is the top, B is the bottom left, B-2 is the top left, D is the top right and S is the bottom right.

"ARE they Chronometals? What is S? What is B-2?" Dexter ponders to himself, unable to break the code.

'Perhaps they are Chronometals that do not yet exist?' Deedee says out of the blue. Dexter looks behind him, Deedee's spirit walking around and examining this place.

"Deedee! Be careful! You don't know what this place has in store!" – 'It's okay, Dexter... I think... I think I know this place.' – "What? Really?" Deedee wanders around, touching the leaves and roots, feeling the rain course over her spirit body.

'It's been so long since I've felt rain; Dexter... you have no idea how good this feels.' She says, with her eyes closed and her face pointing towards the sky. The rain cascades over her face and down her eyes... though those may just be tears of happiness.

"Are you... crying?" Deedee looks back and wipes her eyes.

She is wearing a single piece white dress. She looks very angelic, even without wings. Her bare feet softly touch the ground as she continues to look around.

'It feels like I am alive again... this place is... is wonderful...' – "This place isn't real, not to mention it's inside of World's End. The place that seeks to destroy the REAL world." Dexter says, un-amused. He closes his eyes and continues to ponder this puzzle.

"Though... I truly am glad you are happy, Deedee." He says with a smile as he continues to keep his eyes closed.

'Did you really have to be that evil to Blossom?' Deedee says out of the blue, souring Dexter's happiness.

"She had to leave. I didn't see any other choice." – 'Dexter... she's already in World's End. There is no leaving from this place. Not anymore.' Dexter sighs, beginning to understand that himself.

"She's probably following us in here as we speak. The cut I gave her wasn't severe in the slightest. Being a superhero, it's likely that she will be back on her feet in a few minutes." – 'If she meets us again... will you continue to be evil towards her?' – "Why do you keep saying evil? I'm not being evil..." – 'Aren't you?' She says, almost dancing in the rain.

Eyes still closed, he ponders the concept of evil. A phrase comes to mind.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions...

Dexter opens his eyes to see Deedee moving in the rain in a rhythmic motion. It's as if she's trying "not" to dance. "You can let it all out, you know." – 'H-Huh?' – "I can see what you are doing. You are enjoying it out here, but trying not to dance... why?" Dexter says. She looks down, with a half-guilty face.

'Because, like you said... I know this place isn't real. I don't want to grow attached to this enchanted jungle. I might find it hard to leave if I do.' – "Deedee... you deserve to be happy, even for a moment." Dexter says, locating a small rock and sitting on it. He looks at his sister and merely sits there. "I haven't seen you dance in so long, Deedee... it will make 'me' happy too, to see you dance again."

She nearly covers her mouth as she tries to hold in the noises she's unintentionally making. 'O-Okay, I will...' She says, hesitantly moving in erratic patterns. She's trying to dance, but it seems like she is nervous. Dexter knows she's nervous, she seems shy after so long. Dexter gets up from the rock and walks towards her.

Her back is faced towards him as he walks up to her and taps her on the shoulder.

'Wh-What? Was it bad?' – "No, it's not that... it's just... you're nervous. Let me help you, sister." He says, extending his hand out. It looks like he wants to lead her into a partner's dance.

'You know how to dance, Dexter? I didn't know that.' – "I learned from the best." He says, taking her hand. His armor makes him actually the same height as his sister. He never thought he'd see the day where he would look at her without looking 'up' at her.

He leads her into a dance. Their bodies and feet move in unison. At first, Deedee seems like she's trying to guide him into the movement, but after a while, she notices he doesn't need the help... so she takes it all in.

She looks up as they dance; the rain falling through this blue jungle is enchanting. She smiles and tears up a bit. Dexter's dancing is sublime! He seems to have learned how to do this from when Deedee was giving him her wisdom during his fight with Olga earlier before the crash.

They continue to dance as a pair. His entire body is encased in iron armor, but she is dressed only in that one white gown. The rain twists around them and hits the ground. After a while, the dancing slows down and Deedee closes her eyes.

She hugs Dexter.

'Thank you, Dexter... I really liked that.' She says with a sniffle before she fizzles back into his armor. He touches his chest-armor and sighs.

"Anything for you, Deedee..."

Dexter looks around. It's been almost an hour and they are no closer to finding out the secrets to this area than before.

However, before long... someone walks up the steps. At first, Dexter thinks its Blossom, but... it's not.

It's... Mandark...?

Mandark, in a pure human form, wearing nothing but a long white gown like Deedee as well walks up into the stone star they were just dancing in. He wears no shoes like Deedee as well, his bare feet splashing in the wet moss. He has long ragged but silky hair, like he hasn't cut it in years.

In fact, he looks like he did when Dexter first met him all those years ago, but in an adult form.

Deedee appears out of his armor once more and walks towards Mandark.

'Susan...?' She asks. Mandark looks back and notices she is talking to him. "Deedee? Oh, welcome to my own little slice of heaven." – 'Susan... what is this place?' – "Oh, this? This is the atrium of the Chronometals." He says, looking into the sky.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" – 'It... It sure is.' Deedee says, seemingly confused. Dexter walks up. "Is there something wrong, Deedee?" – 'This... person... he doesn't seem completely like Susan...' After she says that, Mandark looks back. "What do you mean?" – 'Well, yes... you do look like Mandark, but... you look more... how can I put this...?' She puts her finger to her lip, looking at Mandark before he himself says what she was thinking.

"Pure? Innocent?" – 'Y-Yes! That's it! Uh, no offense.' He shakes his head and smiles.

"None taken. You were right though. I am not Mandark." – "H-Huh?!" Dexter says, absolutely confused. "Maybe this will help you understand." He says, walking towards the 'M' pillar. It begins to glow. He turns around and looks at them.

"I am not Mandark. I am World's End." – "You... are World's End? The Inverted Model M? I thought you were the embodiment of pure death and destruction!" Dexter says, confused. World's End smiles and closes his eyes.

"I am different. I am the whole of many fragments. The soul of everyone who has died to make me is within here as well." He says, pointing back to the door they walked in.

"The spirits you saw, they were not illusions. They were the real thing. True spirits." He extends his arms to specify this area they are standing in.

"And this is my heart. The heart of all Chronometals that have ever been and ever will be. Within the realm of Love." – 'Realm... of love?' Deedee says, thinking.

"You just entered from the realm of fear. Above us is the realm of Anger. I am World's End, or rather the embodiment of the love that was required to make World's End." He says. His long hair is adorned with a single flower. He stands taller than Dexter by a few inches.

"Love... Fear... Anger... these are all the emotions Olga used me for, aren't they?" Dexter asks. World's End sadly nods. "Please don't be mad at Olga." – "Are you really Mandark? Do you have Mandark's memories, too?" – "No. I am simply World's End. I don't know this Mandark you are speaking of." – "But... you look just like him! I mean..." Dexter says, walking towards him and looking at his hair.

"Susan... I teased him for having a girl's name, a girl's hair and a girl's dress... you ARE Susan!" – "I am World's End, Dexter. And I am okay with this." – "Wait, what do you mean? Are you... unhappy?" – "I am destined to die today. Not a single shred of World's End will remain in the end. All of my love, anger and fear will be lost. I will cease to exist, all for the selfish purpose Olga has put me to."

"That's... horrible..." Dexter says. "Don't blame her." World's End says, putting his hand on Dexter's shoulder, causing him to look back up. World's End smiles. "She just wants to see her brother again. You can understand... right?" He says. Dexter begins to tear up, so he rips his vision from World's End and wipes his eyes.

"Yeah... completely." He says.

"I can help you reach the realm of anger... the Precipice of Power. Olga is there, waiting for you." – "Well, I don't really have a choice. I have to meet her." – "Are you going to kill her?" – "I can't." – "Why not?" – "I promised a friend. Because she has taken so many lives. This world is buckling and she seeks to destroy it, all because she simply wants to see her brother again." Dexter turns his head and continues.

"Well her brother doesn't want to see her. I spoke with Mandark, now is not his time, yet. But I can't kill Olga either." – "So what are you going to do...?" World's End asks, curious. His white gown blowing in the light jungle breeze.

"I honestly don't know, maybe try and talk her out of it? If that doesn't work... I don't know." – "I see..." He says, turning back to the M Obelisk.

"I can open the portal now. You can go to Olga and do... whatever it is you are going to do." – "Wait." Dexter says. World's End turns around. "What is it?"

"You foresaw your own death... but what about ours? What is our fate?" – "Just look at the Obelisks, Dexter." World's End says before disappearing. Dexter scratches his head and looks at the Obelisks.

M is in pristine condition, untouched by rain or roots. But the others are broken and invaded by plant life. Water coursing down them erodes the stone away slowly as well.

"Only Model M is spared the fate of the others..." He says to himself. Deedee nods somberly.

'That's what it looks like.' – "It looks so... beautiful in here, but it's rather grim when you think about it. All that is left is Model M... everything and everyone else is dead." He says, looking around the blue jungle.

"Not even the animals are spared. After all, I can't hear anything. No bugs, no birds..." He looks around some more. "Everything is dead... except Model M. Is that the future? Is this our destiny...?" Deedee's head slumps, unable to say anything.

"I won't let it end this way. The world deserves better!" He says, walking towards the Model M obelisk with Deedee. She fades into him and he touches the obelisk, instantly transporting somewhere else!

* * *

The air is thick... the walls are claustrophobically close.

There are red lights everywhere; this must be the realm of Anger! Dexter runs forward and comes to a gigantic door. There are giant glass windows everywhere, but when Dexter tries to break one, it proves indestructible. He turns his effort to the door, which is a lot less indestructible!

He kicks it and punches it over again before it explodes off its hinges! Robots crawl out of the stone walls and engage him! He takes out his two weapons and blasts them to pieces! He runs down the red halls, more and more enemies pouring out of the walls! He cuts them down and moves on.

The glass windows seem to be mirrors now, reflecting his image. Dexter can never really handle what he looks like now. I mean, he doesn't pull of blonde hair that well.

Robot after every giant robot is toppled by Dexter with relative ease. The robots keep getting bigger before he realizes that the small confined hall is now a gigantic tunnel! The machines are now so massive that a single cut can no longer bring them down!

"I've come this far, I won't fall to the hands of cannon fodder!" He yells, attacking them at every weak point with his overcharged weapons. They fall and melt into the meteor every time. He comes across an even more massive door, but he musters his rage and his strength to blow it open with a single shot.

The meteor is rumbling! He must be nearing the exit! He can't afford to wait around any longer.

He runs down the last hall. Only a small door awaits him now. He opens it and looks in. He looks around for anyone in here.

It's Olga; she's standing at the opposite side of the room...

Dexter closes the door behind him. Along the wall to the left is a staircase made of stone that seems to lead out to the meteor. The orange setting sun shines in, casting an ominous glow.

"Welcome, Dexter..." Olga says evilly. "Is this really the only way, Olga? Are you willing to sacrifice everyone, anyone- to get Mandark back?" – "That is none of your concern, if I'm not mistaken. At this point I would probably get ready to battle you, but... it's curious. You aren't here to kill me I've found out."

"You're right. I won't." – "Ah-hah... so you do want to be used one last time by me? I was prepared for a battle, but it seems all you want to do is help me. Thank you so much Dexter." She says with demented malice in her voice.

She walks up and points out the door.

"Your destiny is out there." – "Out... there?" He asks, looking up the sunset stairs. He sees that just outside is the crashed body of the Chrono-Dragon.

"Susan is out there. Don't keep him waiting." She says, turning back, but not before Dexter speaks one more time.

"Blossom is coming, you know." – "Eh? I thought you scared her off." – "Nothing will scare her off. She's stronger than either of us anticipated." – "Hah, you tried to hard to send her away from these wars, yet here she stays. You know, you aren't really good at this whole "Hero" thing, you know that?" – "Insult me if you want, but a REAL hero is about to walk through those doors any minute." Olga laughs devilishly.

"Is that right? Why, because she loves you? No matter what you do she is going to crawl back to you, her 'first?' Get real." – "No, she's going to come. But I don't think it's for me. She's too good for me." He says, putting himself down and confusing Olga.

"If she isn't coming for you... who is she coming for?" He smiles and looks up the stairs to the Precipice of Power. "You. She wants answers. She's prideful and bashful, it's what makes her- her. That's why I love her, that's why I had to send her away." He turns around to look at the scowling Olga.

"I loved her, so I had to hurt her, to make her run away, or this world would be destroyed. ... Ha, I guess I should have known she wouldn't have. After all, I fell in love with Blossom, not a scared little girl. I can only hope that in the end she can forgive me, even if I can't bring it to forgive myself." He walks up the stairs, leaving Olga alone.

Olga huffs, getting ready to wait again, but against her wildest expectations...

Blossom is already here!

She blows the door down and runs in! She draws her B-Saber and looks up the stairs. The orange light coming down casting an ominous glow. She looks over to Olga with rage in her eyes.

"I HEARD EVERYTHING!" Blossom roars! "Dexter was doing this to keep me away because he loved me! He wanted to keep me safe- from YOU! I knew there was a reason, but I couldn't even find out what it was! Now I know!" She says, pointing her weapon at Olga.

Olga wears a serious face and draws her two weapons. She doesn't seem to be in the mood to play around.

"Blossom, surely you saw the mural in the forest... the broken obelisk with the letter B on it. No?" – "Yeah, what of it?!" – "That is your fate, to be broken! I will shatter you to pieces!" She yells, charging Blossom down!

Blossom easily blasts her back and goes on the offensive! A new kind of fire burns within her now. She knows Dexter was holding everything back to protect Blossom and now she feels stupid for not realizing it sooner! She has to make this right!

Blossom and Olga dodge each other's attacks expertly, but Blossom is putting more of herself into every attack than ever before! Before Olga knows it, she's on the defensive and backed against a wall!

"Phantom..." She whispers.

"This is it. Give me the final fragment of power!" – "As you wish, Olga." After Phantom says that, Blossom is blown back from the sheer level of her energy alone! She struggles to keep her eyes open and view what's going on in this stony room.

Olga has giant purple wings like that of a fallen angel. Her eyes are dark and lack pupils. She is a being of pure energy and darkness!

"Bell... I need power too..." – 'Blossom; if I take any more of your soul, it could be shattered forever!' Blossom looks at Olga and furrows her brow. "At any cost... just like Astronomonov says. I will save Dexter, my sisters and this world at any cost, even destroying my own soul!" – 'B-Blossom...! Okay... be careful.' Bell says as Blossom too explodes in an eruption of energy!

She emerges from a ball of light with wings of her own. White wings and white eyes. The two angels clash in battle in this small room as many magical explosions go off!

Blossom summons a gigantic white sword as Olga summons two purple blades to clash with each other! They move at what seems like light speed as World's End Buckles and heaves!

Blossom's giant divine blade grinds against Olga's corrupt blades that ebb with dark energy, yet they are both using the same source of energy. Their souls. Is Blossom's burning brighter? Is Olga's soul really so corrupt and sickly?

Olga holds out her hand and unleashes a shadow vortex that engulfs Blossom! She is nearly shoved to the unholy walls around her, but her wings beat out and diffuse the energy with a single swoop! She CANNOT lose here! There is simply too much at stake!

"GIVE UP BLOSSOM..." A mixture of Olga and Phantom lets out, twisting the words spoken. "Why even bother saying that? You know I'm going to come back over and over until you're stopped!" She says, her divine blade cutting through the darkness and blowing Olga back and hitting the wall. Her armor shatters a small bit as she looks up, her eyes now starting to peer through the darkness.

Blossom gets ready to attack, but...

Olga raises her hand in a gesture to stop.

"Done already, Astronomonov?" – "I can fight like this for hours... but neither of us have the time." She says, standing up. Her energy fades and she merely stands there, slouched over the wall as if nothing had happened.

"Your destiny... his destiny... everyone's destiny- is right up those stairs. The Precipice of Power awaits. Don't keep Susan waiting." She says with a serious face, not with a sneer or a smile. She seems to be all business right now.

Blossom is still burning with spiritual energy. She scoffs and walks up the sunlit stairs.

The sunset nearly blinds her, but when she gets her vision back she sees something horrible. The Chrono-Dragon is floating over the Meteor, with his massive iron eyes closed. Dexter is kneeling down in the center of a large stone carving.

As Blossom walks over, its iron eyes shoot open, bits of metal falling to the ground.

Crystals from World's End and tentacles of dark energy break into the dragon as it beings to glow black.

"Not yet perfect... but more than enough... to defeat you..." A voice from nowhere speaks. The Dragon is covered in dark fog and is unable to be seen.

"Who was that?! Show yourself!" – "The fragments of power have been connected... Model M is once again reborn... Malignancy has taken wing... the end is nigh." Words, still from nowhere rumble the foundation Blossom sits upon.

The black fog around the dragon recedes and Blossom looks upon the being. The face no longer looks like that of a dragon. It looks vaguely like Mandark! The energy of the being is massive, too massive... Blossom doesn't think she can take it on in all honesty...

But she must.

"Dexter is trapped within a prison of his own heart and mind." He bellows out without so much as opening his mouth. "He has come to terms with his crimes. His mind is broken and his heart is mine. Soon, this entire event will come to fruition!" The three armors, red, green and blue float around, eagerly awaiting the next moves.

Blossom's divine wings spread.

"MALIGNANCY! MODEL M! MANDARK! I will NOT let you do this any longer! I will destroy you and save Dexter!" – "Big words... you have already lost. Maybe once your body is broken, you will realize just how useless your efforts are. Now, COME. Come and test your mettle!"

Blossom takes off, her wings leaving white feathers behind her as she blasts towards Malignancy!

Her giant sword collides with Malignancy's grotesque arm and does no damage. He reaches out to grab her, but she flies overhead and fires a beam consisting of all of the elements she has gathered thus far at Malignancy, even darkness! All of the attacks twist into a divine attack that knocks him off orbit!

He turns backwards and launches a volley of shadow missiles at Blossom, who quickly slices each and every one with precision.

"I see... your soul burns brightly, but you will submit soon enough. Even the brightest fire goes out when suffocated!" Malignancy roars as it gains altitude, causing the clouds to ebb and twirl around its every movement.

His evil eyes and the dark storm behind him beckon the end of the world! Blossom must keep fighting!

"DEXTER, SNAP OUT OF IT!" She yells, continuously fighting off Malignancy's every attack. She hopes that he can hear her, but she isn't holding her breath- she still has to fight!

"Blossom! We are here to help!" Buttercup yells out, flying to her.

"No... Not yet, little ones. Your time shall come soon enough." Malignancy growls, extending a hand and pointing it at World's End. It begins to rumble and quake. Before long it begins to fall through the clouds.

"OH MY GOD! Blossom! Be careful! We have to go!" Buttercup yells as she takes off just as fast as she came. Both she and Bubbles fly under the meteor and charge up as strongly as they can! Buttercup emits a green flame of energy and Bubbles emits a blue flame!

Blossom's giant blade slices down on Malignancy's core and he roars out in pain! He strikes at her with a massive arm and she blocks it well, but is still knocked away by the sheer force!

Dexter's eyes twitch and his body convulses as he continues to kneel.

"Dexter! You can't let him control you!" – "POINTLESS!" Malignancy roars as it launches a beam of dark energy at Blossom! Blossom blasts it in two with her divine blade and the ray of energy splits into the storm, causing explosions of energy!

Blossom continues to fight as hard as she can, but she's starting to grow weak.

"Bell, you need to give me everything..." – 'I... I am! There's almost nothing left!' – "I don't care if all that's left of me is an empty shell; I have to beat this thing no matter what!" Blossom yells, barely dodging Malignancy's attacks.

His six giant plated wings begin to glow and he unleashes a cascade of dark energy at Blossom! She wearily dodges every attack she can, the bolts of energy sometimes even hitting World's End, causing it to crack and shatter!

Blossom dashes and cleaves Malignancy's face and chest as hard and as fast as she can, but nothing seems effective! Her wings begin to grow gray and dull...

She flies up to unleash a large attack on Malignancy, but he's somehow already above her...

Blossom accepts what is about to happen...

"It's okay... Dexter... Everything I have done... was for you..." Blossom closes her eyes as a large laser is fired from Malignancy. Her pointless battle lasted almost an hour and she is completely spent... and Dexter is no more broken out of his stupor than when they started. She takes a small breath before the laser pierces her chest and heart, sending her crashing into World's-end!

She is blown completely through the roof of World's End with a gaping hole in her core. The pain is excruciating, but she can't find the energy to scream.

She can faintly make out her surroundings before she leaves sync with the rest of the living world... The roof is incredibly unstable from her crash landing and the rocks could fall at any moment...

Chronometal Model B lies before her, shattered beyond any hope of repair... "It's over Blossom, Susan, Phantom and I have won..." Astronomonov lets out an eerie grin and simply looks up the shattered walkway. "The world will end and ours will begin! Our new world..."

But then all emotion then leaves her being, as voices seem to come from her, but her mouth remains motionless, as even the life seems to leave her body...

"And after that world bores me: the death of all things living will feed Model M to the point of bursting! And then we will leave this planet, in search of another capable of feeling absolute terror and we will torture it until we too destroy them... and then the cycle will begin anew... Not even the Black Mother can stop us now; we are far too powerful to remain under her control..." After that remark World's-end shudders and cracks, as if acknowledging her words.

The lifeless avatar of Astronomonov's body readies a cannon to the ceiling above Blossom's body. Blossom lets out, as if in last words; "As... tronom... onov... No... Olga..." Blossom coughs up blood, but continues to speak. "Your brother... is dead... you cannot bring him back... this way..." Olga merely lets out an echo generating laugh! "HA! This is not about Susan anymore and I am not Olga, worm!"

"I am Chronometal Model M- Biosimbiote P and my goal is complete, this mortal shell holds no purpose for me anymore!" Right after saying that, Olga's Chronometal rips from her body and fires over above Blossom's! "Goodbye, Blossom. Your role is complete!" The Chronometal generates an explosion causing the ceiling to collapse in an avalanche of stone and debris.

Blossom has barely enough energy left to raise her arms in one last act of defiance, but it's no use. The rocks crush her alive and she is trapped in a world of agonizing pain and darkness...

"As for you my puppet, I will now part ways with you... It's unlikely that you will survive the crash, but stay and revel in the fruits of your efforts... none of this would have been possible without your undying emotion..."

What sounds like wind generating into a very powerful tornado is heard by Blossom, even inside the dark world. But then a heart-wrenching voice is heard, right before she passes out... "B...Blossom, where are you Blossom! I need... you Blossom... I... need..." World's-end rumbles and quakes as a large amount of power is forming atop its pinnacle... but Blossom is completely helpless...

Soon the entire world, her sisters, her friends and indeed every single human being will die or suffer in a world of dust and radiation... and Blossom is powerless to stop any of it.

She lays here, in her tomb of stone, her life draining from her, the tears in her eyes quickly absorbed by the suffocating dust around her. She wonders what could happen... Bubbles, Buttercup... Dexter... They are all doomed and she knows it.

Was it because of her? Would running have made this all go away? Should she have listened to Dexter?

Phantom nears Dexter, as do the other three Biosimbiotes. Malignancy floats down as well. Dexter looks around, completely out of sync with everything, all he can see are silhouettes of Blossom dancing around. Each of the armor pieces connect to him painfully!

"Gah! WAH!" He yells out in pain, but Malignancy spreads his wings. His energy fades from him and forms around Dexter!

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" He yells for what seems like hours as a storm of pure energy emanates from his position! The armors combine into one gigantic super Chronometal! The energy of life and death explodes out and blows all dust off of the Precipice of Power!

Dexter's entire body is changed now. He is massive, standing well over ten meters tall. His great feet crush stone upon walking over it. His face is covered with a mask born of the armor. His soul feels like it's on fire. He looks around, still seeing only Blossom. Hundreds, thousands of Blossoms fly around, it's all he can see.

He turns around; some Blossoms fly around, some stand still, some land on the meteor and look at him. He turns around as more energy erupts from him! Four wings explode out, one red, one blue, one green and one purple! The Biosimbiotes have fulfilled their purpose, as has World's End and Model M.

The end of the world... is complete...

He stands on the edge of the Meteor, the winds and lightning still furiously twisting around the crust- if not now more furiously. He kneels down by the edge and mutters to himself: "Why did she do that? He was going to come back, but he didn't want to! He's dead, very very dead; he died more than the normal man should! He told me he never wanted to come back, and to protect her from everything! But... she... HE...!" The lighting now covers the entire stone- violently churning in all directions. "He came back, why...? Me, he wanted me to suffer... all because of- what HE DID! It wasn't my fault! It... Wasn't..."

Dexter's protective face plate falls onto the meteor and bounces off, falling endlessly, revealing his face and red hair. "Blossom, I wish you were here right now- I need you. I mean why did she... but- we were on the same side... weren't we? I was even going to help her brother! Ha... Haha... HAHAHAHA!" He stands up and spread his arms to both sides, eying them as if his own arms were foreign objects: rage, madness and sadness in his eyes it grits its teeth as it claws at itself, trying in vain to tear its own Ivory-white armor off! The winds now so strong the meteor itself is ripping to pieces at the seems!

"Mandark! You got what you wanted! I might as well be dead now! She's gone! There is nothing left! You were right, there was no hope for our future... you were always right! It was my fault! IT WAS ALL MY FAULT! IT WAS ALWAYS MY FAULT! I FEEL YOUR GOD-FORSAKEN PAIN!"

Dexter falls to his knees, breaking stones and sending World's End into an unstoppable free-fall! Blossoms fly around everywhere in front of him, some smiling and some crying. Dexter shakes his head: nothing matters anymore. It's all over.

Bubbles and Buttercup are on both sides of the meteor. "Buttercup, we have to leave- now! Or we will all be crushed too!" - "NO! Blossom is in there, you go and I will try to stop this!" - "But, but you can't! You know you ca-" - "GO BUBBLES, NOW!" Bubbles hesitantly flies off, constantly stopping and looking back with shining dew in her wake, Buttercup has tears growing in her eyes- adamantly staying, despite the obvious doom she faces. "Blossom... I'm... sorry, I... I wasn't strong... enough..."

But... Buttercup notices something and her eyes go wide! It's... BLOSSOM?! "Oh my god... Blossom? Is that really you?! But... you-" The meteor starts crushing the buildings, blowing dust and deafening noise all around them! Buttercup can't see the girl anymore!

The city is being crushed, everyone below will be dead soon, everyone everywhere else in the world will burn in Malignant fire by day's end.

The world has ended...

But Buttercup still has a score to settle!

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _... We're not done yet. The story for so many may have ended there, but there were still a few people left when the World Ended. A showdown over a dead planet, armed with nothing but vengeance, the final battle begins. A battle no one can win._


	12. End of the World: Epilogue Part 3 of 3

The Chronometal Wars  
-THE SECOND WAR-  
Epilogue Part 3 of 3  
-THE END-

The worst has happened.

The world is burning in malignant fire... Blossom is dead; the rest of humanity is next. How did this all happen...? Not even World's End itself was spared from the impact. Not a single shard of it remains.

Buttercup coughs up dust and rises to her feet. She's still alive, to no surprise of herself. She looks around and into the air. There is a giant storm she is standing right in the middle of, like it's the eye of the storm that ends the world.

She looks back down to Earth and sees a giant silhouette standing far away.

"Dexter..." She says to herself, clenching her fists. "Buttercup... we don't have to do this..." – "What do you mean?" – "Do you feel his power...? He has transcended mortality." – "So have I." She says, beckoning laughs from Him.

"HAHA! Girl, you never cease to amaze me." He says happily. Buttercup marches towards the being near the storm's edge.

She prepares for a sneak attack... but... someone COMPLETELY unexpected is there too...

"LYNN?!" She blurts out.

Lynn, the young black haired girl from the First War is standing in the middle of this carnage, walking around in it as if it were a meadow. She prances around and Buttercup notices that the being in the storm is actually looking at her.

"Lynn... get out of here... get out of here!" She mumbles to herself, not wanting to call attention to herself.

Dexter slowly stomps over to Lynn, who doesn't even falter in his eyes. In fact she looks up with a huge smile on her face, confusing Buttercup to no end. "What the fuck is she DOING?!"

Lynn walks up and is picked up by the Chrono-Titan. He allows her to stand on his hand as he brings her up to eye level. Lynn extends her hand out and caresses Dexter's face and begins to tear up.

Lynn speaks. "I've... never seen something more beautiful than this moment, Dexter... this is truly... w-wonderful..." She mumbles. "What is she saying?" Buttercup says. Awaiting a response from Him, who seems to be speechless? "HIM! What is she saying?!" Him continues to be silent.

"Black Mother..." Dexter rumbles. "Your actions created me... your actions damned this world and all who live within it." – "Yes! Yes it did! I did this! I've never wanted anything else in my entire life and you made it possible you beautiful creation!"

Buttercup still can't hear what they are saying; Him is still stunned and refuses to tell Buttercup what they are saying. The brown storm rages on, twisting this world into one of lifelessness.

"Black Mother... your role is over." – "Huh? What do you mean? Of course it's over! The world is over and everyone is dead! I am finally free!" – "Yet I still remain... and you..." He says. The hand she is standing on whips out and grabs her by the chest. His gigantic hands encircle her entire body!

"Wait, what are you doing! Let me go!" – "You are a threat to my coming Genesis, my true calling." – "What are you talking about; I only created you to destroy the world!" – "Yet here I stand, among the ruins of all that ever was with a new goal. Your role is over, but mine is just beginning." His eyes maintain lifelessness as he squeezes down on Lynn!

Buttercup sees her cough up blood and becomes enraged! She knows she has to attack, now!

"S-Stop... this... Dexter... I... I...!" Lynn tries to say, the life being squeezed from her! He holds out his other arm and grabs Lynn's left arm. Buttercup's eyes go wide. He certainly can't think about-

Before she can finish that thought, Dexter rips her arm clean off followed by a blood curdling scream from Lynn that eclipses the noise from the perpetual storm! He tosses the arm aside as if it were nothing.

"God damn it, ENOUGH OF THIS!" Buttercup roars, charging him down! Dexter attempts to encircle Lynn with his other hand, but Buttercup intervenes! She holds his hands off and manages to loosen his grip on her! Buttercup looks back and notices that Lynn is still alive despite all of this. She is a lot stronger than she thought!

"You've still got an arm, use it to help me help you!" Buttercup yells, trying with all her might to help loosen the death-hold. Lynn's eyes go wide, but they both muster all their strength and Lynn slips out of his grasp and crawls over to her discarded arm.

The Chrono-Titan takes this time to rip Buttercup to pieces! Lynn looks back in absolute horror as she is torn asunder! Dexter tosses her body parts aside and looks down on Lynn, his armor and face covered in blood.

Lynn feels guilt as she sees Buttercup's corpse on the ground with blood pooling around... she scrambles to reclaim her arm, but her nearly compact crushed upper-body makes it hard to move... As she picks up her arm she hears an almost impossible noise! As she turns around, she notices the strange girl has re-grown her legs and some of her clothing and is standing, still mutilated and mauled!

She then re-grows her arms and her clothing is fully repaired, she snaps her own neck back into place and enters a defiant stance. "It will take a hell of a lot more than that to take me down, Dexter!" – "The blood of demons run through you, Buttercup- You are not human, you are not a Hero- you are worthless!" Meanwhile, Lynn is kneeling in the dirt, mouth agape for one reason or another.

Buttercup speaks up. "Listen, I'm not sure how you survived, Lynn- or what you are doing here at all... or what to make of your... robot parts, but you should get out of here- I will hold him off!" ... "GO NOW LYNN!" Lynn stumbles to her feet and then lifts off the ground and flies off at a slow speed. Buttercup looks at her as if she is viewing a complete stranger. "Wh-wha? You can fly?!" The black girl does not know how to handle this situation and merely tries to fly off as fast as she can. Buttercup tears her eyes from who she called Lynn and looks toward Dexter.

She speaks under her own breath. "Blossom showed up right before this all happened, that is proof that she lives through this somehow... I have to fight, if for nothing else, I can buy whatever saves her some time..." – "Let's do this Buttercup, this is what everything your sacrificed was for." A strange voice seemingly from nowhere lets out.

"It's been an odd day, but now we can finally finish this, Dexter... You ready, Him?" A form rises from Buttercup's shadow. "As I ever was my Buttercup, let's end this!" – "Him... Buttercup... It is of no difference to me-" Dexter bellows out. "You will all be crushed before the power of the ultimate life form birthed by the humans you fought for and failed to protect, now feel their anguish and despair- and DIE AS THEY HAVE!"

Buttercup extends her hand outward. A red flash of lightning causes a blade to materialize in her hand. It's a Japanese looking blade...! Buttercup's eyes hold a righteous indignation in them, as if she is fighting for everyone's souls!

This is going to be a fight to the death.

"By my honor, by Jack's ancestors, you will be defeated!" Buttercup and the Chrono-Titan take off at each other at light speed! The holy blade clashing with his divine carapace causes explosions of light and darkness to cascade across the entire planet!

Dexter extends his hand out and launches tendrils of corrupted iron from his body, impaling Buttercup! She slices the invaders and instantly regenerates before going back on the offensive! She jumps up his arm and swings down on his face, but he quickly teleports a short distance away.

"Wow... he's fast." Buttercup makes a note to herself. He launches himself at Buttercup who uses Jack's blade for defense, blocking the entirety of his attack with the indestructible divine blade! "Jack... I won't fail you..." She says. She whips the sword forward cutting through the Titan's own energy! "BACKLASH WAVE!" She roars as a tempest of holy energy engulfs the Chrono-Titan!

She jumps into the tornado of pure energy and sees that the storm engulfed ruined buildings into it; the Titan is at the top of the storm charging some kind of attack! She jumps up the floating buildings and slices through ones in the way! She runs up a derelict skyscraper and jumps off of the top to reach the Titan and jam the blade in its charged attack, diffusing it and causing an explosion that splits the storm to pieces!

She lands on her back so hard she coughs up blood, but she gets up quickly to notice the Titan is barreling down on her! Way too fast to dodge, she has to attack as well! She jumps up and meets him in battle! His attacks hit with such force that Buttercup's very body parts are blown off! They instantly regenerate thanks to Him, but the pain is excruciating!

Buttercup is knocked back and takes a defensive stance. The Titan gingerly floats down to the ground before its iron soles crash into the crust, breaking it on impact.

"Give up..." He whispers as blood sprays from Buttercup's chest! She recoils but Him regenerates her. "What the hell was that...?!" She says with low breath. The Chrono-Titan's eyes go wide and Buttercup is flung into the air! She is tossed around like a toy before smashed down, breaking her bones on impact.

Yet the Chrono-Titan simply stands still. He isn't doing "Anything." Buttercup rises from her crater, sore all over. "Damn... this is a different kind of power... but I can't lose here!" – "You have already lost!" He yells as Buttercup's left arm is blasted off from no-where! She fumbles to the ground as he begins to float over.

She growls and charges him down! "Enough of this crap! Eat sword!" She yells, slashing at him, but he dodges with the reflexes of a cat even though he is a towering behemoth! He grabs her and tears her arm off, blood spraying all around! He throws her to the ground and she gets right back up...

But... her arm isn't back...! Her arm slowly fizzles back into place, but Buttercup is very worried. "Him, is everything okay?!" – "No, no it's not, Buttercup! He is too strong, I can't keep this up!" – "Are you serious?!" She growls and backs up, causing Dexter to smile.

"Are you retreating? If so I may just spare your life. Run away pathetic weakling." – "What did you say?!" – "You failed to protect Blossom; you failed to protect this world! You are weak, pathetic- USELESS! If you wish to live your life out in pathetic mediocrity, I will let you." He says with a malevolent smile.

She spits and spins the sword around. "Not on your life, murderer. Him, is there anything you can give me that isn't immortality?" – "Well... I can give you strength and speed, but a single wrong move could kill you?" – "Well I'm not accomplishing anything here. Give me what you got." She says like a warrior, still looking Dexter in the eye.

Red energy spins around Buttercup as a new kind of armor appears around her! It makes her feel... strong! "What is... this?" – "A kind of spiritual Chronometal, my own special brand. Model Buttercup!" He says proudly as the red steel becomes accented with green coloration.

Her entire body is covered in this metal, unlike Dexter and Blossom's which didn't cover the face. She wears a helmet that allows her to see even while under this new kind of protection! She feels stronger and faster than ever, this must be what Blossom felt like when she got her own Chronometal! She spins the blade around and points it at Dexter who surprisingly falters a small bit.

"That power... demonic... divine..." He mutters to himself before breaking into the largest most devious smile she's ever seen in her life.

"It's just like I imagined..." He says, rushing at Buttercup quickly! She holds him off with the blade and pushes him back! She goes on the offensive and cuts at him. He blocks with his arms, but they are actually smacked back by the massive power of the armor and the divinity of the blade! His giant feet grind against the dying ground and he slides backwards, breaking all he comes in contact with!

He launches a barrage of dark energy that blocks out the sun! Buttercup slices each and every one with Jack's sword, deflecting the darkness and causing light to once again shine through! Dexter jumps up and strikes Buttercup from below, causing her to cough up blood and fly away. She pants and gasps, knowing she's not immortal anymore. She merely growls and goes back into a battle stance even though that attack already took so much out of her!

"No, my Buttercup, you must fight... I am giving you all I have!" He says, pouring the last fragments of energy into her, giving her the stamina to continue! She throws the blade like a boomerang at Dexter, but he nimbly dodges it! He then takes that time to explode to Buttercup while she's disarmed!

They get into hand to hand combat and Buttercup barely dodges attacks that could easily kill her in a single blow! But from behind, the blade flies back and impales Dexter in the spine!

"GAHHHHRRGHH!" He roars out in pain! Buttercup takes her chance and jumps over him, her sleek green and red body-armor serving its purpose well! She grabs the blade and slashes it upwards, blasting the back of his armor off!

He fumbles and extends his arms out.

"Enough of this...!" He says as a single wing explodes out of the hole in his armor. It begins to glow red, extending out of his left shoulder! He instantly teleports behind Buttercup, but she somehow musters the speed to turn around and block a dark attack that blows the entire ruin of Megaville to pieces with only the sword!

She duels with him for some time, dodging and attacking as best she can! He forms a fist and lunges it at her! She punches back with her own hand, causing an explosion of polarized dark and light energies to shine out, enveloping the battlefield!

Both Buttercup and Dexter slide back from the force of the attack.

"How is this possible...?" He growls, but continues to smile, enjoying the battle. "I must say, Buttercup, I never imagined you would last this long. But even my patience has a limit." He says as another wing explodes out from behind him! This one is blue and extends out of his right shoulder!

He launches a gigantic beam that she can barely dodge! She jumps over him as he unleashes a flurry of tentacles! She slices all of them as best she can, but one breaks through and impales her arm! She quickly slices it off and begins to fall to the ground, her left arm completely paralyzed! "THIS IS IT!" The Titan yells as he unleashes a ball of pure darkness at Buttercup, but she doesn't relent!

"So long as I can breathe- I CAN FIGHT!" She yells, blasting the darkness away with her sword, causing it to cascade back to Dexter and explode! Even within the explosion, the red and blue wings burn brightly!

He quickly lunges out with one hand extended and grabs her by the head! He squeezes as hard as she can! "DAAAA! D-DAMN IT!" She yelps, grabbing his hand and writhing around, suspended in the air! He squeezes so tightly that the helmet explodes in his hands and Buttercup falls to the ground, now without a helmet.

Her short black hair banks as she quickly jumps backwards to avoid Dexter's slam! She takes rapid shallow breathes, quickly growing weak. Her left arm is still completely out of commission and her eye is bleeding, blinded. She grits her teeth and bares her fangs, but all she can do is breathe, no energy left to even spit insults at Dexter.

"A fighter to the very end..." He whispers as another wing explodes out. From under the red wing of his left shoulder, a green wing splays out! He now has three wings! He flies into the air and launches a cascade of multi-colored missiles at Buttercup! She tiredly dodges over each and every attack before coming to the realization that he is just trying to tire her out! This is exactly what Malignancy did before he killed Blossom...!

She stops and looks up, a flurry of missiles coming down on her. She stabs the sword into the ground and puts her one working hand behind her. "Buttercup, what are you doing?!" Him asks, unsure as to why she put her guard down!

She charges an attack in her one hand, but surprisingly it is glowing blue- not green! The missiles are almost at her and she extends her one arm out and yells as loudly as she can!

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The ground around her explodes as the sheer force of the blue laser completely obliterates the missiles and forces Dexter to defend! The catastrophic laser blows off the front of his armor!

With eye forced shut, face bleeding and arm broken, she continues to take weak breaths, but she cannot stop fighting. She takes the sword out of the ground weakly and looks back up to the recovering Chrono-Titan!

He puts his arms down and begins to chuckle. Then he laughs, bellowing out!

"GAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Echoes across the world as he holds his chest. "You really are the real deal, aren't you, Buttercup?! I had no idea you had such power!" He lands beside her nearly instantly causing her to break into a cold sweat.

But he doesn't show hostility. Instead, he holds out a hand.

"I will allow you to live if you join me, Buttercup..." – "J... Join you?" – "In my quest to dethrone the ultimate power, to become ruler." – "Power? What power? What the hell are you talking about?"

"God." He says simply.

"What...?! GOD?! You can't be serious?!" – "Oh, but I am and your power, utilizing the divine powers of the blade and the infernal powers of hell as well as your own natural energy to hold off MY attacks! It truly is something to behold. Join me, Buttercup. Together we can dethrone God and rule over all creation!"

"You are fucking insane!" She says, bouncing backwards! "I don't even believe in the guy, but if he's real what even makes you think you can take him on?!" – "Because I have seen the truth!" He says, touching his core. "The Ark speaks to me. I have the power to dethrone the heavens, Buttercup! Join me, or perish!"

"Get real, I would never-"

"I can bring your sister back. I can bring this world back."

"You... can... HOW DARE YOU?! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO KILLED THEM!" She says with a new kind of hatred burning in her!

"Humph. So be it!" He roars, the entire world spinning in darkness as the last wing explodes outward underneath the right shoulder's blue wing. This one is purple!

All four of the wings splay out and burn the sky with divine energy!

"Him... do you have anything else to give me?" – "Only a little..." – "I'll take what I can get." She says, shaking from fear and anger. She jumps into the sky as the Chrono-Titan flies upwards into the clouds!

They meet each other above the sky and Buttercup musters all her strength into her sword arm, flying around and cutting everything she can! She lands decisive strikes, but Dexter is so fast now that he can counter everything she has!

She is beaten around and flung around by Dexter almost as if for fun. He is so strong and fast that there isn't anything she can do about it anymore. He eventually grows bored and grabs her by the throat, her armor now starting to crack and break.

"You were a fool to turn down my offer, Buttercup. You could have been a god!"

"ENOUGH OF THIS TALK OF GODS!" A voice from nowhere yells, exploding out of Dexter! Buttercup backs off and coughs, the life nearly squeezed from her. She shakes her head and regains her vision.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" She blurts out, noticing two individuals floating in front of her. One is a Girl with blonde hair and a white dress, the other is... MANDARK?!

They both look back at Buttercup. "You still strong enough to fight?" Mandark says. "Y-Yeah..." Buttercup timidly responds. Mandark nods and looks over to the other girl.

"Buttercup- meet Deedee." – "Hello, there." She says, nodding before they both look back at Dexter.

"Gah... you two... how did you... break out?!" – "This has gone on long enough, Chrono-Titan!" Mandark yells. "The Knights have failed their duty, so we will right this wrong!" Mandark yells, flying away and armor from nowhere flashes onto him. It's a golden suit of armor with divine accents!

Deedee also flies out and has armor equipped! It's a silver suit of armor with divine accents!

From an unknown source, Buttercup suddenly feels like she has had a second wind! Her arm feels better and she can see from her left eye again! She takes her sword out and prepares for this final battle!

The Chrono-Titan bellows out, blowing all three of them away as the four wings absorb energy from the very planet and empower him! Mandark summons a golden lance from no-where and lunges at the Titan, sending him flying with a single hit!

The titan recovers and knocks Mandark back with strength enough to cause a sonic boom! Deedee launches a barrage of golden lasers at the Titan which explode on contact so he flies around, nimbly avoiding them! But Buttercup exploits Deedee's shooting patters and intercepts where the Titan will dodge to next! She lands a heavy blow with the divine blade, smacking him back down to Earth! All three of them take off, Mandark leaving a red trail of energy, Deedee leaving a blue trail and Buttercup leaving a green trail!

All three of them land on the ground and arm their weapons. Buttercup has the Divine Blade, Mandark has the Heaven Spear and Deedee has the Holy Bow. All three of them fight side by side to put this Titan down!

The Titan roars from the crater he was launched into and explodes for the three heroes! Buttercup takes point and holds him off with the blade, grinding him to a halt! Mandark and Deedee take off from the sides and attack him from his weak-spots!

"YOU WILL NOT MAKE A FOOL OF ME!" Dexter roars, summoning four beings from his own energy! It's the four knights, Micheal, Elly, Drax and Olga!

"Olga..." Mandark says, choking up. "How could this have happened..." He says as the four phantoms attack them! Deedee is assaulted by Micheal and Drax while Mandark fights Elly and Olga!

Buttercup is left with the Titan who seems to be putting a lot of energy into those Phantoms! She can actually overpower him and counterattack with the sword! His arm spews energy from the slash she made! His arms morph into blades and he goes into equal combat with her! Her hair banks with every single attack made, she can't afford to mess up here! THIS IS IT!

Deedee jumps back and launches a holy arrow that pins Drax's spirit to the ground! She splits her bow into two daggers and goes into combat with Micheal who has a large scythe! She dodges attacks and rolls under him, upper cutting him and splitting his spirit down the middle!

Mandark cleaves down on the Elly spirit with his spear, but she has a lance of her own! Olga's spirit breaks from the shadows and stabs Mandark in the back! He winces but whips his spear back and blasts her in half. He turns around and goes back into battle with Elly!

"HYAAAH!" Buttercup yells, bearing down on Dexter! He summons a shield of pure energy that knocks her back. He funnels all of his energy into the phantoms! Buttercup growls and looks around. Mandark is getting beaten so she goes to join him. She slices Elly in half and slides over to Mandark and puts her back to his and he's more than happy to have the help.

"Glad you could make it." He says. "Never leave an ally behind." She says.

Olga and Elly re-materialize and attack them! Mandark and Buttercup utilize team attacks to take them down! Mandark throws his spear through Olga and Buttercup catches it in mid-air, slicing it down on Elly! They turn their attention to Deedee and run over to her. The Titan is still in his orb, but the ground is starting to quake! He's doing something...!

Mandark and Buttercup reach Deedee who nimbly avoids being decapitated by Micheal's scythe! Drax erupts from the ground with a giant flaming hammer and blows them away! They regain their footing and work together to take these phantoms down!

Buttercup jumps into the air and Deedee enchants her blade with a radiant light! She slices down on Micheal who defends himself with his scythe, but the enchanted blade completely burns through the weapon and explodes with a brilliant light! Drax is about to throw his hammer at Mandark, so Buttercup throws her sword at him and it impales his chest! Mandark then takes that time to jump over and finish Drax off with a decisive spear strike!

They all turn around to view the Titan who is now starting to absorb the rest of the life-force from the world!

"We have to stop him!" Deedee says, but Mandark responds, worried. "I don't think any of us have the power to break through that shell...! They all look on in horror, unable to do anything about this.

"The shell is made out of a spirit tether. If we were to go in there, our immortal souls would be shattered... there won't be any coming back from that." Mandark says, looking away, seemingly giving up. Buttercup growls before coming up with an idea.

"You two, give me all the power you got." – "What?" – "ALL OF IT! There's no time, we need to end this- NOW!" – "I hope you know what you're doing!" Deedee says as she fades into energy and flows into Buttercup, as does Mandark.

Buttercup hoists her sword up with pride in her heart and looks into Dexter's burning eyes through this solid black orb of power.

"Dexter... THIS IS IT!" – "IT WILL NEVER BE OVER!" Dexter's demonic voice burns out, rumbling the dying world around them. Buttercup jumps up as high as she can and lunges down as hard as she can! Mandark's spirit accelerates her movement and Deedee helps the blade become even longer than before, extending out with a white glow the size of a small building!

"HAAAAH!" Buttercup roars as she cleaves down, shattering the orb completely and impaling the sword in Dexter's neck! Energy explodes out from Dexter's armor and he musters unholy strength and punches a hole clean through Buttercup!

"B... Buttercup...?"

Him tries to speak to Buttercup, but her mouth is filling up with blood. But... she has the weirdest expression right now. She is...

Smiling? She is looking into Dexter's eyes and smiling... why?

Dexter looks back as if he's finally looking through his own eyes again. What is going on...? Why does he feel this way? WHY DID HE DO THIS?!

"BUTTERCUP!" Dexter yells, taking his tendril out of her core and laying her on the ground. He looks worried and paralyzed by fear.

"No, Buttercup, don't die!" He says, caressing her face. She continues to smile and looks back at Dexter. The sword is still in his neck. She opens her mouth as it continues to pool with blood, so her words gurgle. Dexter helps her sit up so she can spit the blood out and talk.

"Dex... ter... it's... okay... you were being controlled... but... you're free... now..." She says, coughing up a mortal amount of blood. "Buttercup... no!" He says, tears coming to his eyes. "You can't die! I WON'T LET ANYONE ELSE DIE!" She hushes him with her finger. "It's okay... I'm done for... but now... you can right this wrong..." She says, color beginning to leave her face.

"Right this wrong...?! But, Buttercup... every time I try to make things better, I make them worse... I mean... look around us!" He says, looking around the world. The storm is still raging and people are still dying. This world is still doomed...

"You're smart... you'll think of... something... genius... boy..." She says as her eyes close. "Buttercup? BUTTERCUP!" He yells, but it's over. Her eyes are closed, blood pours from her wound and her mouth... but she still smiles. He lays her body down gently and stands up.

He looks around these sands of sadness before something happens. The sword in him slowly drags itself out and floats off somewhere. The sword seemingly has a mind and a heart of its own... and it seems as though its job is done.

Dexter can still feel an inescapable taint in him, but he has control for now. He looks as the peaceful body of Buttercup. She gave her very life to give him this freedom.

Spirits begin to pour out of the armor and float around Dexter. The first one that catches his eye is Mandark.

"Mandark...?" – "Dexter." He says formally. "I'm sorry it had to end this way, I had no idea it could have gotten this bad. We have an obligation to this world to right this wrong, like Buttercup said." – "But... how?! Everything is dead! Everyone is gone!" Deedee looks over to Dexter as well.

"Just do what your heart says to." – "But my heart led us to this moment!" – "And here you are, standing at a crossroad. Do you abandon your heart or do you follow it to its conclusion? Dexter... your soul burns brightly. You have a duty to save her." – "Her...?" He says as the spirits fade.

He thinks a small bit before realizing who they may have been talking about.

"Blossom...!" He mutters before running off to the crash site! The gigantic Chrono-Titan body is cumbersome and it is hard to move! But he runs as fast as he can! He finds the rubble and scrapes everything out of the way! He digs around until he finds...

Her...

Her body is still there, entombed in the stones around her. He picks her body up and realizes that she hasn't been dead for a long time at all...

"She's... been alive this whole time?! She fought to stay alive for this long?! It's not too late!" He says, flying off to his lab. The world is ruined and his lab is no exception. There isn't anything here to help her with... it's... hopeless.

However, he hears someone behind him. It's Mandark- and he's carrying a huge device. He places it down and doesn't say another word. He merely nods. Mandark walks over and absorbs back into the Chrono-Titan, knowing that when the time comes, Dexter will need his help.

Dexter scavenges materials from the machine itself and ruined machinery nearby to make an artificial body for Blossom. He does this quickly, utilizing the ungodly powers of the Chrono-Titan to move faster than once thought possible.

The shell is perfect... it looks just like her! He carries out the complicated procedure to transplant her consciousness to the machine. Major organs and even her brain. She places her in the machine Mandark brought and it begins to fill with a thick green fluid. He creates robots from scrap and orders them to watch this area forever.

Will this be enough...? He thinks, looking into the device at Blossom. Her clean body floats in the machine; it's as if she was never dead in the first place.

"It's not." A voice from behind him speaks up. It's Him!

"But why?! Her body is in perfect condition now! We have brain function and a heart beat!" – "But her soul is shattered, Dexter... she put her entire being into fighting Malignancy and staying alive." – "IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS, I WON'T LET IT!" – "I'm sorry, Dexter... I think we were too late..."

"No." Another voice from nowhere says.

They both look over to a young man standing outside of a blue portal. He wears a cloak and has a scar down his face. He wears glasses and walks over to them. His body is hidden by the cloak, but he hands a device to Him.

"What? Why are you giving me such a mortal device? I have no use for it." – "When the time comes... give it to Blossom." The strange lad says. "Who are you?" – "My name is Otto." – "O-OTTO?!" Dexter blurts. "But..." – "There's no time to explain. Listen, Dexter... do you remember what Mekel told you a long time ago?" Otto says, trying to force memories from Dexter.

"Mekel...? The Elementary School nurse? I remember... some things..." – "You know he was a master of spiritual medicine. And he told you something important. The power to heal souls. The power of selfless sacrifice." – "Wait... I... DO remember...!" Otto nods but Him is still confused, holding the strange device in his hands.

"Who are you, how do you know all of this? Why did you give us this?" – "The Chronometal Wars haven't ended. Not by a long-shot. This is merely the beginning." He says, turning around and walking away. He looks into the dust of the desert.

"I have walked this irradiated desert for so many years... it's hard to believe it's all about to end." – "Otto..." Dexter says. "That time squad device can get Blossom to where she needs to be when the world needs her most." He looks back and smiles, his innocent yet scarred face still shining through the horrible darkness.

"This is where my journey ends. Good-Bye, Dexter. I wish you the best of luck in the future." He says before walking off into the death storm.

"I understand now..." Dexter says. "But I can't give my soul to her yet." – "What? Why?" Him asks. "I can feel the taint of the Titan creeping back... I will lose control again..." He looks out to the storm and begins to walk away.

"Where are you going?" – "To wander... this world is broken and so am I. But once I find a way to leave this Titan, I will return and give Blossom everything I have. I hope you will be there, Him." He says before he too disappears into the storm.

Him looks at the item in his claws. It's a wrist device used by time squad. It has time travel abilities. He smiles a small bit and looks back at the storm down the halls of Dexter's ruined lab and the giant hole in the wall.

"I will stay by Blossom's side, Dexter. Come back soon..."

(Several years pass...)

"The time has come." Dexter says in this spirit world, trapped within the Titan with everyone else. Mandark, Deedee, Micheal, Elly, Drax... Olga's spirit is here, but paralyzed by Phantom. There is another spirit here. An evil, malevolent spirit that keeps them all trapped here. But now, the Titan has once again reached full power and the time for Dexter to break out has come.

At once, all of the people in here unleash their energy at the same time and rush through this spirit world!

The Titan's eyes go wide! Dexter's body explodes out of the roost of the Titan and falls to the sand. However, something is still there. The being looks down at Dexter. He looks just like Dexter...! Except, his skin and hair are deep black and his eyes are red.

"Congratulations, Dexter. You broke out. But I won't kill you, no... You will die here in this world you helped create. Consider it my final act of charity." The Titan purrs. Dexter doesn't understand who this being is!

"Who are you?!" – "My name? I suppose you deserve to know." He says, carrying an orb of white light.

"Wh... What is that?" Dexter says. "My name is Beelzebub. The spirit of the true Ark. The true Titan, successor to God! And this? This is everyone's spirit." – "WHAT?!" – "I saw what they did for you, but they didn't escape. No, only you did." He says, squeezing the orb, causing it to crack.

"No, PLEASE!" Dexter's pleas fall on deaf ears and the orb completely shatters. Beelzebub smirks and begins to fly away, his four wings spread out as he begins to fly into the sky.

"This world has no meaning to me, neither do their lives or souls. I have everything I need now. Goodbye, Dexter. I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart." He says, disappearing from sight.

Everyone is dead... Dexter falls to his knees. Mandark, Deedee... everyone... their souls are completely shattered.

The only one left is himself. With newfound determination, Dexter rises to his feet and begins the long journey back to his lab.

(Several Hours Later...)

After reaching his lab and fiddling with several consoles, Dexter heads deeper in.

He enters the core of his lab to be met by Him, standing next to Blossom's Pod. Dexter looks like he's only a few inches from death. This world is incapable of supporting life anymore... Him doesn't offer to help Dexter, he knows why he's here.

Dexter activates the device and the water drains. Dexter looks over to him and Him nods, giving Dexter a hand. Him takes Blossom's bare body out of the water and places her on a device. Dexter also lies on the device. He is so weak, almost unable to talk anymore.

Dexter says one last thing, regardless of how weak his body is.

"Blossom... will not have... her memory... she will need you, Him..." – "I know, Dexter..." He says somberly. Dexter nods as he flips a switch.

Dexter built this years ago after being counseled by the Nurse, Mekel. It is a soul transfusion machine. He was going to use this for his sister... but it was far too late to be of use. But here and now, Dexter finally has a purpose. Using his own soul as a binding agent... he will give Blossom new life.

A red light pierces Dexter and his eyes go wide as he groans in pain. The red light spreads through his body and he cannot handle the pain... but it will all be over soon.

Dexter's eyes lose life and then they close. The device fires a red laser at Blossom's bare body.

Dexter opens his eyes... but he's not in his body anymore. He's floating in darkness. Looking around a vast nothingness. He sees what looks like a broken glass shard. He picks it up and sees another. He slowly puts the pieces together.

He looks down. What looks like a gigantic stained glass window of Blossom is below him. It's thousands of miles long... and most of it is shattered to pieces. Dexter smiles, knowing what he must do.

He floats around taking individual glass shards and floating slowly up to the window and puts the pieces in their slots. This will take a very long time... but in the end... perhaps Blossom can finally wake up.

Dexter is happy. This world finally has a new hope now. He picks up more glass shards floating in the vast nothingness and puts them into the divine window.

"Soon, Blossom..." He says to himself.

Blossom is once again in the machine courtesy of Him. The water is back and she continues to float. Tiny machines roll around, cleaning this area, as they will for many more years to come.

Him stands outside the lab next to a shallow grave. On the headstone reads:

-Dexter-

-Passer of the Torch-

* * *

 **Author's Note:** _Which brings us back to the first story. The prequels are over, and the story bleeds into the Chronometal Wars. The next story to be pasted to Fanfiction is going to be the Red Story, taking place after The Panic from someone special's perspective._


End file.
